Government

‘I Am Worried About the Town’s Exposure’: Cautiously, Selectmen Approve Contract Change To Expedite Work at Saxe

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Seeking to gain eight or nine precious workdays after school lets out, town officials on Monday effectively expedited a handful of contracts connected to the Saxe Middle School renovation and expansion, totaling nearly $6 million. Facing a delay in the widely anticipated $18.6 million project—a holdup caused in part, officials say, by the EPA taking longer than expected to approve abatement and remediation plans—members of the Saxe Building Committee at a special meeting of the Board of Selectmen requested an amended contract for the project’s construction manager on agreements with five vendors. Given that the delay would cost about $70,000 to $75,000 per month, Mallozzi noted that savings here would come to approximately $18,000. The selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of the amended contract, though only after receiving some assurances vis-à-vis the town’s risk, since they were asked specifically to allow the amended contracts, totaling $5.8 million, “prior to the determination of the guaranteed maximum price.”

“So what we are doing today is saying to [construction manager] O&G is, ‘Go ahead and let’s engage these five vendors, but we cannot guarantee right now to the town’—which is what you folks have a responsibility to do—‘we cannot guarantee what the maximum pricing of this project is going to be,’ ” Mallozzi said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “So my deal as a selectman is: We want to save the $18,000 and speed up by eight or nine days the construction, but what is the risk to the town?

Government

‘There Has Got To Be a Better Solution’: Town Officials Reject Single-Lane Exit from Saxe at South Avenue

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Saying motorists already back up onto South Avenue during busy drop-off and pick-up times at Saxe Middle School, town officials on Thursday night bucked at a recommendation from the state to change the driveway’s two-lane exit to one. Doing so would exacerbate a problem of traffic and would be “a near impossibility,” Police Commission Chairman Stuart Sawabini said during the group’s regular monthly meeting. “I am more than in favor of the Saxe expansion and all the rest, but what you are suggesting will create such a huge bottleneck,” Sawabini said during the meeting, held at the New Canaan Police Department. “There has got to be a better solution. My other understanding is that the exiting cars off of the back [of Saxe, on Farm Road] are not allowed because it’s bus time and the gate closes.

News

‘You Had Me At Hello’: First Selectman Supports Addition of Special Ed Admin in Public Schools

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The town’s highest elected official last week voiced support for the Superintendent of Schools’ request to add a third full-time special education administrator to New Canaan Public Schools’ staff. Designed to more effectively manage special ed staff and cases, the addition is “something important to my values,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said Wednesday during the first presentation of Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi’s draft proposed budget to the Board of Selectmen. “If we have enrollment that is driving this, then that’s [why] we all voted for [the expansion at] Saxe,” Mallozzi said during the presentation, held in a board room at Town Hall. “This position here is some that on an emotional and any kind of level seems very important, so I am delighted to see it in the budget.”

“You had me at ‘Hello’ with this,” Mallozzi said with respect to the request, offering high praise for the two administrators in place now and their ability to carry a large workload. Currently, two administrators divide the work of overseeing special education in the public schools—evaluating and supervising all staff, communicating with parents, sitting in on meetings, keeping abreast of developments in special ed requirements and regulations—one responsible for pre-K through fifth grade, the other sixth grade through “Launch” (any special ed student through age 21).

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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4th Man Out – TRAILER (Green band)

4TH MAN OUT is coming out on February 5, in theaters and VOD. Evan Todd (“Switched at Birth”) stars as Adam, a small-town, blue-collar mechanic who likes beer and hockey but surprises his buddies when he tells them he’s gay.

Some very exciting news to share here: 1998 New Canaan High School graduate Jed Mellick is producer of a highly acclaimed new feature film, “Fourth Man Out,” which is set for a Feb. 5 release in 11 cities including New York City. The movie (check out the trailer above), reviewed here by Variety, has earned accolades from critics and at film festivals over the past several months. We hear from Jed that for anyone who cannot make it to a theater, Feb. 5 will mark a release date on VOD and other platforms, and there’s a pre-order link on this web page with the trailer.

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.