Board of Selectmen

Town Re-Hires Tom Stadler for Some Former Job Duties

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About one year after retiring from New Canaan’s municipal government, Tom Stadler is set to return to handle some of the duties he performed while in the town administrative officer role. Stadler had served as New Canaan’s risk manager and when he retired “we discovered that there is a piece we are missing,” according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. “We met with CIRMA [Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency] recently and in order to have someone work on the immediate claim of incidence, we need someone local and someone who is available and Tom always was available for that,” Moynihan said during a regular Board of Selectmen meeting, held Aug. 17 at Town Hall and via videoconference. “He is in retirement.

Government

Town To Market Waveny Fireworks as ‘Residents-Only’

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Though police say they’re not anticipating a major rise in attendees for this year’s Independence Day weekend picnic and fireworks at Waveny, the volunteer committee that organizes the event is marketing it as “residents-only.”

The Family Fourth Committee long has urged those planning to attend the event, scheduled this year for Saturday, July 3, to buy parking/entry passes and typically sells more than 2,000 of them. Of those, about 1,800 are purchased by New Canaan residents in a normal year. The standalone fund to put on the event is supported by pass sales (it has about $70,000 in it currently). Those driving into Waveny or New Canaan High School to park without a pass have been allowed to enter, in part because it’s a practical impossibility to hold up the line talking to them about their passes or trying to have them turn around. Noting that some towns canceled their own fireworks shows this year due to uncertainty about pandemic-related restrictions, Committee members voiced fears at meetings held May 20 and 27 that the Waveny event could see so many people come that it overwhelms the park and becomes unsafe for pedestrians.

Government

‘A Man of Great Integrity’: Town Administrative Officer Tom Stadler To Retire

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Tom Stadler, for 12 years administrative officer to the first selectman, is to retire this summer, officials announced Tuesday. A CPA who spent much of his career with Deloitte & Touche and is widely known in the community for his involvement with New Canaan Baseball, Stadler has been a mainstay in the office of New Canaan’s highest elected official for three administrations. 

Addressing the Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting, as well as several municipal department heads, Stadler said, “I love all of you. I am going to miss you dearly.”

“I’m going to miss everyone dearly, but a time comes,” he said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “The time really does come. When that old red Jeep wears out and quits running, I’ve got to retire.

Andrew Walsh

‘I Don’t Think It’s Very Realistic’: Committee Mulls Postponement or Cancellation of July 4th Waveny Fireworks [UPDATED]

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Members of the volunteer committee that organizes the annual fireworks celebration at Waveny said Wednesday that the popular family gathering likely won’t happen in any form on July 4 and that it remains to be seen whether a postponed event is feasible. The Family Fourth Committee stopped short of making a formal recommendation to postpone or cancel the event. Yet even in a modified fireworks show—for example, where attendees are told to park on the lawn at Waveny and remain in their cars—members of the group voiced concerns about people ignoring such instructions. 

“Here’s an example—the parks got closed for a reason,” Committee member Wendy Dixon Fog, who also is a volunteer EMT with New Canaan Emergency Medical Services, said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “And they got closed because people refused to social distance and you had a lacrosse game and you had a little bumble bee soccer game and these parents were already told, ‘Social distancing, no games.’ So if we can’t control what they are doing in small numbers, I don’t know how we are going to be able to do this.”

Chair Tom Stadler said the Committee would meet weekly until it reached a decision. Committee member Robin Bates-Mason said Norwalk, Westport, Enfield, West Haven, Hartford and Windsor Locks already have canceled their Independence Day fireworks.

Board of Selectmen

Family Fourth: Officials Approve $31,000 Contract for Fireworks at Waveny

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a $31,000 contract with a Douglassville, Pa.-based company for this year’s Independence Day fireworks at Waveny, the 40th Family Fourth celebration at the public park. Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams voted 2-0 in favor of the contract with International Fireworks Manufacturing Company. Tom Stadler, chair of the Family Fourth Committee that oversees the popular show, said revenues from sales of passes have risen following efforts to educate the attending public that the fireworks are not town-funded but rely on monies collected privately through the passes. “This past year we were able to fund not only the whole entire show but also give some money to the Emergency Medical Services so they could buy that golf cart and there’s a stretcher on it—it’s equipment for the emergency medical people which we were renting each year from Norwalk so deiced to help them buy it,” Stadler told the selectmen at their regular meeting at Town Hall. “Also we helped the Police Department with some work on their trailer.