Amy Murphy Carroll

FY25 Budget: Carlson Flags Town Stipends for Nonprofits

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The town should allow grant-making agencies that raise private dollars to fund nonprofit organizations that serve residents, rather than putting that cost on local taxpayers, New Canaan’s highest elected official said last week. Other Fairfield County towns do not make the smaller grants that New Canaan has given to agencies such as the Child Guidance Center and, more recently, Family Centers, according to First Selectman Dionna Carlson. New Canaan needs to “look at where are we getting our bang for buck as a municipality, and what are we using that we need to fund,” Carlson said during a Jan. 23 Board of Selectmen meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

Though the community decided to enter into a partnership with the New Canaan Community Foundation and Silver Hill Hospital to fund the successful Urgent Assessment Program, “I’m not quite sure what we are doing with all of these small donations to these other agencies,” she added. “My only argument is that if it truly is a really beneficial nonprofit that many people value, they will write checks for it,” Carlson said.

Amy Murphy Carroll

Town To Issue RFP for Legal Services

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New Canaan’s highest elected official said Wednesday that the town will issue a request for proposals for legal services. First Selectman Dionna Carlson said that she hopes the firm that long has handled the town’s legal services, Westport-based Berchem Moses PC, will respond to the RFP. “It’s more of a philosophy that we’ve had them for two cycles of first selectmen, and it’s just good practice to go out” to bid, Carlson said during a special meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. The town has not issued an RFP for legal services since 2012—a block of time that encompasses the entire three-term tenure of the immediate former first selectman, Kevin Moynihan, a retired lawyer who routinely exceeded the legal budget. For example, in fiscal year 2021, the town spent $404,788.01 in legal fees to Berchem Moses against a budget of $300,000.

Government

Town Approves Funds To Finish Redesign of New Pedestrian Crossing at Route 123 and Brushy Ridge/Locust Avenue

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Town officials last week approved another $10,000 in consulting fees in order to finish redesigning a busy intersection to the state’s satisfaction. Residents have been calling for improvements to the intersection of Route 123 at Locust Avenue/Brushy Ridge for nearly 10 years, and the town—with New Haven-based traffic consultants Fuss & O’Neill—has already worked and re-worked plans for a safe pedestrian crossing at the busy state road. Yet officials with the state Department of Transportation have returned repeatedly with additional changes to the plan, such as changing the pedestrian crosswalk from the southern end of the intersection to the northern end. Specifically, according to New Canaan Public Works Director Tiger Mann, the town proposed the “idea of extending the sidewalk down Brushy Ridge to come across 123 to attach to the sidewalk that’s at Locust Avenue”

“Associated with that would be some signal modifications—specifically to the pedestrian heads as far as the locations and then the timing,” Mann told the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held Jan. 4 at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Government

After Complaints, Police To Look Again at Parking for Officers Downtown

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Following complaints from residents, New Canaan Police officers will try to avoid parking on Locust Avenue while working out of temporary headquarters downtown, officials say. The New Canaan Police Department in November moved into 39 Locust Ave.—the former Board of Education offices at the corner of Forest Street—while the station on South Avenue undergoes an extensive renovation, a project that’s expected to take about two years. During a Board of Selectmen meeting last week, officials flagged an emerging issue where residents are complaining about Locust parking taken up by police officers. “I know it’s a learning curve over there,” Selectman Steve Karl said to Police Chief John DiFederico during the Jan. 4 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Government

‘We’re Very Excited’: NCM&HS Presents on $2 Million ‘Campus Reimagined Campaign’

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The New Canaan Museum & Historical Society—the oldest organization of its kind in Fairfield County, established in 1889—is working toward a $2 million fundraising goal that will see its spacious Oenoke Ridge campus reimagined, officials say. Launched in June, the fundraising campaign supports a four-pronged plan that will see new buildings erected and existing spaces reused, according to NCM&HS Executive Director Nancy Geary. Where the organization’s library now is located—inside the Town House on the main floor—will be “The Bartlett Center for New Canaan History” with a “permanent exhibition on the history of New Canaan,” Geary told members of the Board of Selectmen at their Dec. 19 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “And we’re finalizing what they call the ‘assets’ for that, and there are going to be media consoles that are interactive, especially because we can’t possibly tell the history of this town in 1,0000 square feet,” Geary said.