Cristina A. Ross

Town Council Seeks Change in How New Canaan Approves ARPA Allocations

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Multiple members of New Canaan’s legislative body last week said that they want to change the way proposed American Rescue Plan Act or “ARPA” allocations are approved after feeling pressured to vote in favor of more than $2 million in the federal funds as a block last month. The Town Council on Dec. 15 voted 11-1 to approve $2.05 million in ARPA funds for eight items in a single vote. During the elected body’s Jan. 19 meeting, Councilman Maria Naughton asked whether the Town Council “should consider doing line-item approvals when we get these ARPA requests coming in” since “there were some questions on some” of the items.

“I don’t think there’s that many that it would be burdensome,” Naughton said at the meeting, held via videoconference.

Cristina A. Ross

Town on Pace To Exceed Budget for Legal Fees for Second Straight Year

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The Board of Selectmen this week approved a legal bill that brings the town’s total spending in legal fees to about $200,000 halfway through this fiscal year, against a budgeted amount of $300,000 for all of fiscal year 2022. The spending in legal fees follows a year that saw New Canaan exceed its legal fees budget by more than $50,000, records show. Though the Board approved the most recent legal bill with no comment during its regular meeting Tuesday, Selectman Kathleen Corbet has voiced concerns in the past about the spending. 

She noted the high amount of taxpayer funds spent on legal fees last fiscal year during the Board’s June 15 meeting, and voiced concerns again at the Oct. 19 meeting. There, she noted that the town already had spent more than $90,000 on legal fees during the first quarter of fiscal year 2022.

Town Council Approves $2 Million in ARPA Spending

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The New Canaan Town Council at its most recent meeting voted 11-1 to approve a round of American Rescue Plan Act or “ARPA”-funded expenditures totaling $2.05 million. The package of one-time expenditures includes $725,050 for bonuses for town and school employees, in recognition of their work on the “front lines” during the pandemic, and another $1.33 million for various town projects, according to information shared at the Town Council’s Dec. 15 meeting at Town Hall. The Board of Selectmen had approved the expenditures earlier this month, the Board of Finance the night prior to the Town Council meeting. The suite of initiatives is part of $6 million in total ARPA funds that the town expects to receive from the federal government, to be distributed in multiple rounds.

Government

Conservation Officials Consider 10K Running or Walking Event to Spotlight New Canaan’s ‘Greenlink’

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Citing a successful model from Darien, local conservation officials say they’re thinking of launching a 10K running or walking event in New Canaan that would spotlight the town’s “green link” connecting public parks and the downtown via trails and sidewalks. 

Robin Bates-Mason, a Town Council member who sits on the legislative body’s Land Use and Parks & Recreation Committee, and also volunteers with local nonprofit organizations such as Planet New Canaan and the New Canaan Beautification League, said the Darien Land Trust uses an event to bring awareness to its properties around Darien. “It’s quite popular,” Bates-Mason said during last week’s meeting of the Conservation Commission, where she was a guest. Participants pay a $15 fee, she said. The appointed body’s chair, Chris Schipper, said it could be “an interesting project.”

“I like the idea of people walking and riding,” Schipper said during the Oct. 14 meeting, held via videoconference. 

Referring to his request on behalf of open space advocates to allocate a portion of a $6 million windfall in federal funds through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Schipper added, “And I have, in the course of discussing ARPA funds and allocations of funds, I’ve said we really have to promote walk-ability and bike-ability here in New Canaan and I think we have some support from [the Department of Public Works], we just have to get around some of these state road restrictions.”

“And I can tell you it drives me crazy I come up 106, regularly coming back from Greenwich, and I see young moms with a stroller walking alongside [Route] 106.

Amy Murphy Carroll

ARPA Funds: Town Weighs $500,000 in ‘Premium Pay’ Stipends to ‘Essential Workers’ During COVID

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Town officials say they could direct $500,000-plus of an approximately $6 million windfall in federal funds for New Canaan to municipal employees who have worked long hours due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Board of Finance “has been talking about a premium pay element for some employees after COVID and that will probably be for a half-million dollars or more,” according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. 

“One of the purposes of these funds are to give premium pay to employees who, because of COVID, may have worked extra hard,” Moynihan said during the Oct. 5 meeting of the Board of Selectmen. “That is something that has been discussed and I think the Board of Finance will talk about that,” Moynihan said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

The comments came during a general discussion of how the town should spend the first tranche of about $6 million granted to New Canaan through the American Rescue Plan Act. 

Town officials disclosed the windfall mid-summer, and since then elected and appointed bodies including the selectmen, Board of Finance and Town Council have weighed in on how to spend the money, including outlining a process for such decisions. The town has until 2024 to spend the money.