Government

Officials Approve $44,000 in Contracts To Reconfigure Finance Department at Town Hall

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Officials last week approved approximately $44,000 in contracts to reconfigure the Finance Department’s area at Town Hall in a way that makes it more welcoming and also creates space for two more bodies. The department is “the central service agency” of the town and “people need to feel that they can come in and ask any questions” of the staff there, according to interim Finance Director Sandra Dennies. Yet “right now, when you walk in, you walk into a big gray hall,” she told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held Sept. 12 at Town Hall. “It is not user friendly.

Government

Meeting Minutes Detailing Decision to Change NCHS Fields Projects Filed Aug. 30, Two Months Late

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Though officials said this week that meeting minutes disclosing a controversial decision to change a taxpayer-funded project without notifying New Canaan’s funding bodies were available after that decision was made, the public record shows that those minutes weren’t filed with the Town Clerk until Aug. 30. The June 23 meeting of the Fields Building Committee was attended by four of five regular members—Chairman Bob Spangler, Secretary Mike Benevento, Scott Werneburg and Nick Williams (regular member Amy Bennett was absent)—as well as four ex officio members, Recreation Director Steve Benko, New Canaan High School Athletic Director Jay Egan, Public Works Director Tiger Mann and Parks Superintendent John Howe. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi and Public Works Senior Engineer Joe Zagarenski also were present. According to meeting minutes date-stamped Aug.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The Board of Selectmen said this week that New Canaan has paid about $5,390 in legal fees this fiscal year and nearly $19,000 overall for advice regarding the sober house on West Road. ***

Straight Outta Maple: We received the photo at right—depicting Jack Trifero and Terry Spring, arrested last week after refusing to leave the burial ground alongside the Merritt Village condo-and-apartment development on Maple and Park Streets—with a caption reading that the pair were “carrying the ONLY weapon they had at their unlawful arrest, a zoning map of the Maple Street Cemetery.” Trifero also supplied his statement to police in which he said an owner of the property threw rocks at him and one hit his leg. “I feel he was also throwing them at Terry—so I was concerned. After about 5 or 6 stones, he stopped. I felt it was an unprovoked violent act.”

***

New Canaan Police at about 6 p.m. on Sept.

Government

Cherry Trees Coming To Cherry Street

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After planting elm trees on Elm Street, New Canaan’s tree warden on Tuesday said he’s bringing cherry trees to Cherry Street. Bob Horan, owner of Pauley Tree & Lawn Care Inc., told the Board of Selectmen that he’s overseeing the planting of three cherry trees near the corner of Cherry Street and Burtis Avenue where a dead sugar maple now stands. “I like the cherries on Cherry and elms on Elm—I commend you for that,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said during the board’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. The discussion emerged as Mallozzi and Selectman Beth Jones by a 2-0 vote (Selectman Nick Williams was absent) approved a $14,160 contract with a Stamford-based tree care company for multiple tree pruning and removals at various locations around town. The work at Burtis and Cherry is part of the bid won by Stamford-based Almstead Tree, Shrub & Lawn Care, Horan said.

Around Town

New Canaan Marks Anniversary of 9/11 with Memorial Ceremony on Front Lawn of Town Hall

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Robin Gestal, vice president of the New Canaan Volunteer Ambulance Corps, was in midtown Manhattan on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. A safe distance from the World Trade Center, she made it home to her family that same day. Here, officials alerted New Canaan’s emergency medial service that it needed personnel in New York City. “Our EMTs gathered at headquarters,” Gestal recalled on Monday morning, addressing a crowd of residents, police, fellow EMTs, town officials and municipal workers gathered on the front lawn of Town Hall for New Canaan’s annual 9/11 remembrance ceremony.