NewCanaanite.com (https://newcanaanite.com/tag/town-council/page/3)
Town Council incumbent Hilary Ormond, a Democrat, is seeking re-election to New Canaan’s legislative body. The Democrats currently hold four seats on the 12-member Town Council. Six seats are up for election: four currently held by Republicans, two by Democrats. There are five Republicans and four Democrats running for Town Council. Here’s our exchange with Ormond.
Town resident Heather Russell, a Democrat, is seeking election to the Town Council, New Canaan’s legislative body. The Democrats currently hold four seats on the 12-member elected body. Six seats are up for election: four currently held by Republicans, two by Democrats. There are five Republicans and four Democrats running for Town Council. Here’s our exchange with Russell.
New Canaan’s legislative body last week voted in favor of increasing the first selectman’s salary while also calling for an explanation as to why the Board of Finance didn’t also recommend a cost-of-living adjustment or ‘CoLA’ for two other elected officials. The Town Council during its regular meeting, held Sept. 17 in Town Hall and via videoconference, voted in favor of a 2.75% increase for the first selectman’s position for fiscal years 2026 and ‘27. Typically baked into the municipal budget, the increase must be approved by both funding bodies prior to the election on Nov. 4.
Municipal officials are poised to approve a contract Tuesday to repave the very last road in New Canaan to get a new surface under the town’s comprehensive 21-year-old program.
The Board of Selectmen will vote on an approximately $525,000 contract, including a contingency, with a Norwalk-based company to do the work on Pine Street—about $25,000 less than an original estimate, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “That will start some time around Oct. 1 and go through the rest of the season,” Mann told members of the Town Council Infrastructure & Utilities Committee during its Sept. 12 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “And that is a milestone for us, me, our DPW in general, because that is the last road in town that needs to be paved since we started our pavement management program in 2004,” he continued.
Public Works officials had said when the program got underway that it would take 20 years to do all the roads “and it’s pretty much exactly 20 years,” Mann said.
“We were done a year ago but Pine Street was the only outlier,” he said.
Town officials say they need time to evaluate the merits of a citizen-led campaign to reduce the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in New Canaan. After receiving dozens of letters themselves and seeing similar ones in local news—calling for a reduction for reasons of noise, public health and environmental issues—members of New Canaan’s legislative body are calling for a comprehensive analysis before recommending any change to local ordinances. During a meeting last week of the Town Council’s Bylaws and Ordinance Committee, member Eric Thunem said: “I think we need to hear from a lot more people before we vote on an ordinance that could impact so many more things than just the noise in my backyard. There are a lot of implications that would restrict and change the economics of landscaping.”
Committee members during a June 4 meeting spent nearly one hour discussing the issue. One Committee member, Kimberly Norton, said she was “on board with moving ahead with [restrictions].”
“I think we’ve had an outpouring of letters from the public…there’s lots of interest in the issue, and I think it behooves us to take it forward,” Norton said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.