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.

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.

Cristina A. Ross

Town Council Approves 5% Budget Increase; Last-Minute Reductions to Board of Ed, Library Spending Requests

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The Town Council last week approved a budget for next fiscal year of about $175 million, an approximately 5% increase over current spending. The figure includes a Board of Education operating budget of about $91.5 million, up about 3.7% year-over-year. During a meeting held April 2, members of the legislative body in a divided vote made reductions to the Board of Ed ($250,000) and New Canaan Library ($107,000) spending requests for fiscal year 2025. In proposing the Board of Ed cut, Councilman Rita Bettino said that she was wary about adding fixed costs in the form of 13 staff positions to the district following a town-wide revaluation that could see significant increases in taxes for some, depending on the mill rate. 

While the positions that the district is adding “don’t add up to $1 million necessarily, they are ongoing costs and they don’t go away and they just get built upon, going further,” Bettino said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. 

She added, “I’m just uncomfortable adding any more ongoing expenses than I believe are necessary. It’s not just the salaries.

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Town Council To ‘Reconsider’ Audit Committee Appointment

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Six months after voting against the appointment, the town’s legislative body is scheduled to “reconsider” adding a local man with a unique history in New Canaan to a prominent municipal body. The following agenda item appears on the Town Council’s regular meeting agenda for 7 p.m. Wednesday: “Audit Committee Appointment – Reconsideration of the confirmation of the appointment of Roy Abramowitz as a regular member for a three year term ending December 1, 2025.”

In denying the appointment by a 6-5 vote at its April 5 meeting, Councilmen (as they had weeks earlier) voiced concerns about the process that landed the Abramowitz nomination in front of them. Specifically,  they said that since the Audit Committee is a creation of the Town Council itself, its members should be involved earlier in vetting candidates. Formed in 2014, the volunteer Audit Committee helps oversee financial reporting for the municipal government and school district. The Committee has a vacancy left by founding member George Maranis, who resigned. Abramowitz is a CPA in town.

Amy Murphy Carroll

Election 2023: Democrats Put Up Three for BOE; Murphy Carroll Accepts First Selectman Nomination

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A Democrat seeking election to the Board of Education on Tuesday night described New Canaan as “a large community with a ton of tiny communities within it.”

For Lauren Connollly Nussbaum and her husband Matt, town residents for 10 years whose three daughters—ages 8, 10 and 13—attend South and Saxe Middle Schools, those communities include one in special education that they’ve found “remarkable and humbling,” she said during the Democratic Caucus, held at Town Hall. 

Other communities “may be in the sports world, in a house of worship, that may be in the Beautification League,” Connolly Nussbaum told 75-plus Democrats in attendance . 

She continued: “Wherever people in New Canaan are, we are building communities. And that is what I want to do on the Board of Education. Continue to build community and include everyone.”

Connolly Nussbaum added, “I feel ready. I feel nervous. I feel excited.