Dionna Carlson

Residents May Become Responsible for Clearing Their Sidewalks of Snow and Ice

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. New Canaan’s highest elected official wants the town to consider requiring residents to clear snow and ice from sidewalks abutting their homes. At present, the town is required to remove snow and ice from sidewalks outside the downtown area, mandated by ordinance. Despite this, the town is only able to tend to nine of the 20 mandated miles due to staffing and attempts to contain costs within an inflationary budget, officials say. According to First Selectman Dionna Carlson, maintaining all 20 miles would cost something close to another $2 million a year.

Amy Murphy Caroll

Broken Column on White Birch Road To Be Repaired

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. After six months, New Canaan officials are bringing to a conclusion the repair of the conspicuously broken column at the top of White Birch Road. As previously reported, one of the two columns located at the start of White Birch Road (opposite the off-ramp from Merritt Parkway Exit 37 northbound) was struck and damaged by a vehicle last December, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. 

Last Tuesday, during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held at Town Hall and via videoconference, Mann discussed a check he had acquired from the driver’s insurance company. Mann sought the approval of a request from the Department of Public Works to enter into a contract with a repair company to fix the column. “We received a check for the entire amount of $5,350,” Mann said.

Board of Selectmen

First Selectman Pushes for ‘Zero-Based Budgeting’ [Correction]

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. New Canaan’s highest elected official this week called for the town to be even more fiscally conservative in its approach to contractors and vendors hired by the municipality. 

First Selectman Dionna Carlson said Tuesday that the town should move toward “zero-based budgeting” versus “carry-forward budgeting.”

“We’ll continue to get better at this process, but the way it should be done is we go out to our vendors and get an estimate for the year based on what we’ve made and what we buy,” Carlson said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. The comments came during a discussion of a blanket purchase order request from Public Works Director Tiger Mann regarding the town’s Water Pollution Control Facility. The purchase order includes 18 items totaling $532,667.50. 

Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll asked Mann whether the listed prices were “working off of last year.”

“Are you doing any inflation adjustments on this stuff?” Murphy Carroll asked. Mann said no, that DPW is “working strictly off of last year’s number.”

“We’re not making an adjustment per se,” Mann said.

Amy Murphy Carroll

The Playhouse: Town Approves Contract for Delivery of New Theater Seats

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a purchase order with a Stamford-based company for the delivery of new theater seats for the Playhouse. The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously during its regular meeting to approve the $6,000 contract with Kaster Moving for the delivery. The new seats are currently being stored at Kaster in Norwalk, and will be brought to the Playhouse on May 31, according to Department of Public Works Director Tiger Mann. Mann presented to the selectmen the cost and process of delivering the chairs, which includes “storing the old seats in case we didn’t get the new seats.”

“Now they’re storing the new seats and they’ll bring them to the theater,” he said during the regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “So we’ll be bringing in the chairs for each theater separately, and then we’ll go to the installation on May 31st.”

It isn’t clear how many seats there are or what they look like.

Government

The Playhouse: Target Opening Date for Restored Movie Theater Remains June 21 

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Workers are making good progress at The Playhouse and the target opening date, at this point, remains June 21, town officials said Wednesday night. Preparations are “going forward” and contractors are “working six to seven days a week,” according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “They’re aware of the June 21st deadline and they’re working diligently towards that,” he told members of the Town Council at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Referring to the new operator of The Playhouse, he added, “And CinemaLab, on their side, is starting to work on some of their ideas for an opening.”

Closed at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and available to a new tenant since later that year, when Bow Tie Cinemas terminated its lease, the Playhouse will remain a two-screen “twin” theater when it opens. Originally estimated at about $4 million, the long-awaited project at the Playhouse came in at nearly double that figure last year, and is finishing at about $8.6 million.