Board of Selectmen

Town To Exceed $300,000 Budget for Legal Fees

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The town is on pace to exceed its fiscal year 2021 budget of $300,000 in legal fees by tens of thousands of dollars, records show. Members of the Board of Selectmen discussed the high legal costs during their regular meeting Tuesday, while approving payment of a $40,271 legal bill for March from the town attorney’s firm that brought the total spent since July 1 to $297,967.79, according to a summary invoice. The town pays a $8,500 monthly retainer to Berchem Moses PC. “So we are definitely going to go over budget this year,” Selectman Nick Williams said during the meeting. “We’ve only got $2,000 remaining in the budget.”

As he has in the past, Williams noted that the single most-expensive legal matter on the bill involves a dispute over a proposed terrace on God’s Acre and ownership of the property.

Government

Town Seeks Review of ‘Sidewalk Bump-Out Plan’ on Elm Street

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Town officials say they’ve hired a traffic engineer to review a plan to bump out sidewalks on Elm Street. Michael Galante, director of traffic at Norwalk-based Hardesty & Hanover LLC, has been hired “to come out and take a look at Elm Street, review a bump-out plan for us, a sidewalk bump-out plan,” according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “He is going to be doing a little bit of traffic study and a little bit of speed study on Elm Street, the main business section,” Mann told members of the Police Commission during their regular meeting, held March 17 via videoconference. “There was a request to have the speed limit dropped there, and then we’d like him to take a look at that. So he will be out there in the next couple of weeks to look at that and then we are hoping to come back to you in April with some findings.”

The Commission’s next regular meeting is scheduled for April 21. 

It wasn’t clear what portions of Elm Street sidewalks would be “bumped out” under the town’s plan, what businesses would benefit, whether the plan would result in loss of parking spaces or whether the town will solicit public input on the changes.

Board of Selectmen

CFO: Board of Finance To Review Selectmen Compensation

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Though the spending plan for the office of New Canaan’s highest elected official calls for an overall 4.5% reduction, items within it such as the first selectman’s salary could be adjusted when the budget comes to the Board of Finance, officials said this week. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan’s current salary is $147,000, according to the approved budget for this fiscal year, while the two selectmen together are paid a stipend totaling about $16,000. “The Board of Finance will be considering compensation,” CFO Lunda Asmani said during a budget hearing Tuesday. “This is reviewed, typically, every two years, I believe, so they will be looking at first selectman and the selectmen. That will be discussed at the Board of Finance level, and whatever is proposed at that point we’ll make that adjustment to that budget.”

The Board of Finance is scheduled to take up the budget Feb.

Board of Selectmen

Moynihan Denies Parking Commissioner Report

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New Canaan’s highest-elected official on Tuesday denied a report made this month by a Parking Commissioner that a fellow member of the volunteer body had been blindsided by the town’s decision to not reappoint her. During the group’s Jan. 7 meeting, Commissioner Peter Ogilvie said he was “disappointed in the Parking Commission and town government for not having any conversations whatsoever with Pam Crum.” 

“I have had a discussion with Pam and she is quite clear-minded and very definitive that she was never told,” Ogilvie said during the Parking Commission meeting. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan denied that characterization during Tuesday’s regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen. “Michael [Dinan] reported last week that I made an appointment to the Parking Commission without talking to a member who was not going to be reappointed,” Moynihan said during Tuesday’s meeting, held via videoconference.

Board of Selectmen

Moynihan: Vacant Town-Owned Building in Kiwanis Park Could House Animal Shelter

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First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said Tuesday that a town-owned structure in Kiwanis Park could be converted for about $50,000 into a shelter for housing stray and neglected domestic animals. Moynihan said he and members of the Parks & Recreation Commission are “investigating” whether a vacant house in the Old Norwalk Road park could be used for a New Canaan Police Department Animal Control shelter. He told fellow members of the Board of Selectmen that the elected body should decide on a use for the vinyl-sided single-story building as it starts the budget for next fiscal year. The New Canaan YMCA used the house as a base of operations for its summer camp in Kiwanis in 2020, “and we are also in discussions with the Y about possibly having a public-private partnership with respect to the operation fo Kiwanis during the summer,” Moynihan said during a regular Board meeting, held via videoconference. 

“We have to make a decision as to whether or not we need to make a change before we commit the Kiwanis house to the YMCA for their summer use, which would be an 8-week to 10-week use in the summertime,” Moynihan said. “It’s a house that could be converted into an animal shelter with the benefit of having an outdoor run, which makes sense.”

The comments came during the selectmen’s discussion of general matters before the town.