Government

Town To Have 17 Small Bridges, Culverts Inspected Under $75,000 Contract

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Town officials last week approved a $75,000 contract with a Newington-based civil engineering firm to inspect 17 small bridges and culverts in New Canaan. It’s been nearly 30 years since bridges smaller than 20 feet underwent a full inspection by the state Department of Transportation, though they’ve undergone screenings to rule out major problems, according to town Senior Engineer Joe Zagarenski. “Culverts have older or nonexistent data, so the intent of these inspections is to gather the data on these structures, identify any deficiencies and to develop a repair/maintenance plan with costs,” Zagarenski told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held March 7 at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

The purpose of the new contract with WMC Consulting Engineers is “identifying the small culverts” around town so municipal officials know which ones “need a little bit of work and a little more attention,” he said. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted 3-0 in favor of the contract. WMC “has recently designed and provided construction inspection services with the West Road bridge and Wastewater Treatment Plant bridge, and we’ve been very happy with their performance,” Zagarenski said.

Government

Town Approves $250,000 Contract for Masonry, Landscaping Work in ‘Service Area’ Outside Waveny House

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a $255,850 contract with a Bedford Hills, N.Y.-based company to rebuild a brick wall outside Waveny House. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of the contract with Cambareri Masonry, Inc. 

The wall in question is located in a service area east of the main house, and the cost of the project will be split 50-50 with the Waveny Park Conservancy, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. Cambareri had done the Conservancy’s first major project at Waveny, Mann said, a “trail coming from the forecourt and leading down the hill through the trees there, the Flexi-pave trail.”

“They did a very nice job and then they did the most recent project with the Conservancy and the town, which was the installation of the plantings along the Waveny drive coming in from South Avenue on both sides of the road,” Mann said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “They’ve done very nice work and we are confident he will give us a nice project for this phase.”

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted 3-0 in favor of the contract. The project went out to bid, Mann said, and the town received bids as high as $763,000.

Audit Committee

Selectmen Vote 2-0 in Favor of Audit Committee Appointment [UPDATED]

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday voted to appoint a longtime resident with a unique history in New Canaan to a prominent municipal committee. 

The selectmen voted 2-0, with one abstention, to appoint [a town resident] to the Audit Committee. Formed in 2014, the volunteer body helps oversee financial reporting for the municipal government and school district. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectman Nick Williams voted in favor of the appointment. If [a town resident]’s appointment is supported by New Canaan’s legislative body, he will fill a vacancy left by founding Audit Committee member George Maranis, who resigned. 

Selectman Kathleen Corbet abstained from the vote, saying, “I’ll just say that this has nothing to do with the candidate but I do think that the process of learning candidates, particularly for the Audit Committee, I would say the same for the Board of Finance, where two bodies have to go through the process of reviewing the candidates—presumably and ideally a pool of candidates—and then reviewing those and then going through the process of approval through both the Board of Selectmen and the Town Council, we haven’t gone through that process with respect to this open position in the Audit Committee. And so I’ll abstain on this particular vote, because I think that while I’m not disagreeing about the candidate, what I do think is that the process needs to go through with respect to a pool of candidates, particularly a diverse pool of candidates.

Anne Kelly-Lenz

Town On Pace To Exceed Legal Budget Again

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The town is on pace, once again, to exceed its budget on legal fees. Documents show that in the last fiscal year, New Canaan exceeded its $300,000 budget by 32% ($395,947.42). 

In the current fiscal year, the town is on pace to spend about $383,989, based on billing from the town attorney’s firm as of the most recent legal invoice approved by the Board of Selectmen. Selectman Kathleen Corbet during the Board’s Feb. 19 meeting asked how the town proceeds with covering such non-budgeted costs. “We have reached our budgeted amount and we’ve got four more months of the fiscal year,” Corbet said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference.

Government

Town Approves $350,000 for Electrical Equipment at Renovated Playhouse

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The Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting approved a pair of contracts for electrical equipment needed for the widely anticipated renovation project at the Playhouse on Elm Street. Shuttered since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 100-year-old brick movie theater is undergoing major interior work for a reopening later this year. The selectmen during their Feb. 19 meeting voted unanimously in favor of an approximately $24,000 contract with a Danbury-based company for switchgear equipment, and a $325,000 contract with an Avon-based company for equipment such as air handlers and condensers. 

Bill Oestmann, superintendent of buildings in the Department of Public Works, said Building Codes and Energy Codes have “changed quite a bit” recently. “They just changed in October so we’ve got a couple of extra things added to it that we have to do by Code now,” Oestmann said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.