Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The hopeful developer of the Roger Sherman Inn property has clarified that he does not intend to raze all of the existing historic structure under his newest application, as NewCanaanite.com had reported last week. Andrew Glazer of Rowayton’s Glazer Group intends to pick up and move the oldest portion of the 18th Century-built inn closer to Oenoke Ridge Road, converting it into one of six new residences planned for the 1.89-acre site. He outlined that plan during a public hearing last month before the Planning & Zoning Commission. ***

New Canaan’s Michael Nowacki is featured in a Connecticut Mirror news story that ran Jan. 13, regarding his interest in hearings in Hartford before the state legislature on judges seeking reappointment.

Government

Resident Pursues Referendum for ‘Lower Cost Proposal’ at Saxe Middle School

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A New Canaan man is on the verge of kickstarting a process which, if ultimately successful through its several steps, would see the recently approved $18.6 million appropriation for the Saxe Middle School building project kicked back to the Board of Finance for “reconsideration and a recommendation of a lower cost proposal.”

Michael Nowacki said he has garnered 41 of the required 50 signatures needed to file a notice of intent to petition for referendum—the very first step in a process outlined in chapters 4-15 and 4-16 of the Town Charter. Nowacki, known to many in New Canaan as a petitioning candidate for first selectman this local election season just past, said he “absolutely” expects to get the signatures he needs by a deadline this Thursday. “There is no question about whether we will get there or not,” Nowacki said. In order to force an actual referendum vote, Nowacki would need within 30 days of the public notice of the appropriation (which officially was last Thursday, Dec. 3) to have 5 percent of the electorate on the last completed registry list—that amounts to some 600-plus people, according to Town Clerk Claudia Weber—sign a petition for referendum which includes the following language (approved by the town attorney):

“We the undersigned electors of the Town of New Canaan, acting pursuant to Section C4-16 of the New Canaan Town Charter, hereby petition for a referendum regarding the action taken by the Town Council on November 30, 2015 to resolve the following question:

‘SHALL the action taken by the Town Council at its meeting on November 30, 2015, which approved the ‘Resolution Authorizing an Appropriation of $18,600,000 for Additions and Renovations to Portions of the Saxe Middle School and The Financing of Said Appropriation by the Issuance of General Obligation Bonds Of the Town And Notes in Anticipation Of Such Bonds in the Amount Not To Exceed $18,600,000’ be repealed and returned to the Board of Finance for reconsideration and a recommendation of a lower cost proposal?’ ”

Asked why he’s pursuing this, Nowacki said: “Because we discovered evidence that was not shared with the Board of finance and the Town Council relating to enrollment projections that were in fact faulty, and in talking to the guy that runs [the New England School Development Council] that did a report on projections, I found out that they did not give all the proper information to the company that did the report.”

Specifically, Nowacki said a Nov.

Government

‘I Don’t Think We Should Be Blackmailed Into Submission’: Selectmen Sound Off On Audit Committee

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The volunteer group appointed to help the town with financial reporting has created anxiety needlessly, issued empty ultimatums, overstepped its charge and demanded changes that either already are in place or run against New Canaan’s governing document, officials said Wednesday. Though members of the Audit Committee deserve thanks for their time and effort, they’ve paid far too much attention to a “self-proclaimed whistleblower” who has cost the town hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, the newly re-elected Board of Selectmen said during a regular meeting. Though he stopped short of calling out town resident Michael Nowacki by name, Selectman Nick Williams called the “whistleblower” in question “a cancer on this town.”

“For the Audit Committee to take their cues from this individual, I don’t get it,” Williams said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. He added: “Why does the Audit Committee talk to this individual? They shouldn’t.

Government

Election 2015: Voter Turnout, Comments from Candidates

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Nearly 30 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots in local elections when polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, following a day that saw candidates for offices including Town Council greet constituents at the middle and high schools through a clear, warm day and chilly evening. Here’s a table showing total votes cast in recent local election years:

 

And here’s a table that NewCanaanite.com will update regularly, showing voter turnout in New Canaan hour-by-hour:

 

Contested races this year include Republican seats on the Town Council, with five GOP candidates vying for four seats—Ken Campbell, Steve Karl, Christa Kenin, Cristina A. Ross and Roger Williams, a petitioning candidate and incumbent—and first selectman, with incumbent Republican Rob Mallozzi seeking re-election, and petitioning candidate Michael Nowacki running independently for the highest elected seat in town. Karl stood outside Saxe Middle School late Tuesday morning, and when asked how he felt about how things were going, said: “I feel great. The weather is great. Lots of friends and family supporters out.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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It’s Election Day, and the League of Women Voters of New Canaan created this one-page Web guide for local constituents, including a Voters’ Guide to the Candidates, New Canaan 2015 Sample Ballot, Voting District Map and Absentee Ballot Information. ***

We’re hearing the Gridiron Club made another outstanding choice for this year’s “Fall Guy.” It’s New Canaan’s own Keith Simpson, noted local landscape architect and civic-minded volunteer, who currently serves with the New Canaan Beautification League, Waveny Park Conservancy, Pop Up Park Committee and Plan of Conservation & Development Implementation Committee, among other groups. ***

Police received a report last week of a distressed animal at Whiffle Tree Lane. At about 10:13 a.m. on Oct. 27, the police department’s Animal Control section arrived at the residence to find a small animal caught in an elbow of a gutter.