The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday voted unanimously to hire a new sanitarian in the New Canaan Health Department.
Shannon Vallerie is certified in contact tracing, among other areas, and has been working since last March with Health and other municipal departments, according to the town’s human resources director, Cheryl Pickering-Jones.
“With COVID and everything going on, we are definitely in need of another sanitarian in that position,” she told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held via videoconference.
“She has been a great asset to the town, she has helped Human Services out, the Health Department, Planning & Zoning, and I think she will be a tremendous asset to [Health Director] Jenn [Eielson] at this time,” Pickering-Jones said.
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Nick Williams and Kathleen Corbet voted 3-0 to approve the hire.
Vallerie has been working since March of this year on a number of COVID-related tasks, according to her resume, obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request. Those include creating data reports related to COVID-19 virus, coordinating volunteers helping those most impacted by the pandemic and supporting operations at the Saxe Middle School testing site, the resume said. She earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and policy at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., it said.
Her hiring comes as New Canaan approaches its 200th confirmed COVID case, according to Connecticut Department of Public Health data. Here’s a look at how New Canaan compares to similar towns in the county in terms of the rate of infection:
Confirmed COVID-19 Cases
| Rate | No. Cases | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Easton | 0.47% | 35 | 7517 |
| 2. Weston | 0.74% | 75 | 10179 |
| 3. Redding | 0.80% | 73 | 9125 |
| 4. Ridgefield | 0.93% | 230 | 24638 |
| 5. New Canaan | 0.98% | 199 | 20213 |
| 6. Fairfield | 1.09% | 676 | 62105 |
| 7. Darien | 1.10% | 239 | 21753 |
| 8. Westport | 1.15% | 324 | 28115 |
| 9. Wilton | 1.20% | 220 | 18397 |
Municipal officials started calling more than two months ago for additional help in the Health Department amid the public health emergency, in the aftermath of Mike Handler’s widely discussed dismissal as emergency management director.
Williams asked at Tuesday’s meeting whether the hiring of Vallerie would be sufficient to meet what New Canaan and other community’s could be facing amid a resurgence of the virus.
“Yes, I think we definitely need to hire Shannon full-time as a new sanitarian, but if, God forbid, COVID comes back in the second wave, second tsunami. whatever, I know Jenn and Jenn has been working literally every day or had been working every day for 15 hours a day,” he said. “If COVID comes back, are we prepared for a second tsunami?”
Pickering-Jones said the town would need to monitor the situation.
“I think before COVID, she [Eielson] was under-staffed, so I think the more that we can start to add to her staff, she [Vallerie] has also worked with many other departments and they have helped her out,” Pickering-Jones said. “So I think at this point we are good. I can’t say that in six months we will be. So I think we just need to listen to Jenn and listen to the Health and Human Services Commission and see how things go.”
Vallerie is to undergo certification for septic and food service establishments, she said.