Government

After Difficulty with Trash-Collecting Company, Town Turns to New Hauler 

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Municipal officials on Tuesday approved a contract with a new hauler of recyclables following months of difficulty with a company that had been charging New Canaan more than neighboring towns. 

The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of the contract with Danbury-based Oak Ridge Waste and Recycling. The two-year contract calls for Oak Ridge to haul recyclables at a rate of $83.74 per ton, compared to the $85 per ton that New Canaan currently is paying Stamford’s City Carting, and the $95 per ton that City Carting offered in responding to the town’s bid for the job. “We are doing slightly better going forward than what we were paying City for this year,” Public Works Director Tiger Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting, held via videoconference. 

The estimated $215,000 annual contract also calls for a per-pull cost of $189 for recyclables. 

Officials said in November that New Canaan was paying $85 per ton while Wilton was paying $65 per ton for similar services. New Canaan Department of Public Works Assistant Superintendent of Solid Waste Don Smith said in January that he’d been unable to reach City Carting to get an explanation for the discrepancy. 

Asked about City Carting’s failure to return calls during this week’s meeting by Selectman Kit Devereaux, Smith said that the “new general manager apologized for all that.”

“But I already told him the damage is done,” Smith said. “And then they tried to negotiate after-the-fact when we put it out to bid again and I said no.”

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, Devereaux and Selectman Nick Williams voted in favor of the new contract with Oak Ridge. 

William asked what drives the pricing for the work.

Business

Local Businesses and COVID-19: Against The Grain

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For today’s Q&A with a local business, we interviewed Against The Grain owner Chris Meier. The Main Street business (here on Instagram), selling handcrafted gifts and furniture, is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily and offers FaceTime interactions as well as shipping and delivery, and curbside pickup. Here’s our interview. How are you doing? Chris Meier: Like all businesses, it has definitely been an adjustment period.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The condo-and-apartment complex known locally as “Merritt Village” is now “The Vue New Canaan.” Here’s its Facebook page. ***

We wish all the best to 2015 New Canaan High School graduate Lucas Niang during the NFL draft, which opened Thursday night and runs through Saturday. ***

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan opened Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting with a moment of silence, saying, “I’d like to start by having a brief moment moment of silence for our 21, perhaps now 22 New Canaan victims of this COVID virus and I would also like to note, as many of you know, that our own superintendent of schools, Dr. Bryan Luizzi’s father passed away over the weekend after only four days of illness, of COVID. This is a very sad time, and I would just like to take a few moments to remember these victims.”

***

New Canaan Police at 12:40 a.m. Monday cited an 18-year-old Stamford man for marijuana-related infractions after stopping his car on Cherry Street because it didn’t have a front marker plate. ***

The Town Council on Wednesday approved a 90-day local tax deferral program for qualified property owners.

Homepage Featured

Lawrence Luizzi, 79

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On Sunday April 19th, 2020, Lawrence (Larry) Luizzi passed into eternal life at the age of 79. Larry was raised by his late grandparents Lawrence Luizzi and Elizabeth Luizzi in Hoboken, New Jersey. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Stevens College, and a master’s degree in business from Western Connecticut State University. Larry spent his entire career working for General Foods, beginning with Maxwell House in Hoboken and retiring as the Director of Logistics and Information Technology in White Plains, NY. An early programmer, he often came home with pockets full of “punched cards” that he had used to upload code throughout the day.