Government

New Canaan To Upgrade To Chip Readers for Credit Card Processing; $1.7 Million in Sales Last Fiscal Year

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New Canaan in the fiscal year just ended did about $1.7 million in credit card sales, among registration online for Recreation Department programs, Waveny Pool passes, Transfer Station fees and Lapham Community Center offerings, officials said Tuesday. For credit card processing in-house, the town used “old cheap magnetic stripe readers,” according to Assistant Recreation Director Bill Kapp. “Quite frankly, this is something that we should have upgraded one year ago when the [payment card] industry said, ‘Go to the new chip and readers,’ ” Kapp said during a Board of Selectmen meeting, held at Town Hall. “We have been patiently waiting for our software provider to provide us with coded devices. Well, that failed.

Around Town

Facility, Furniture and Landscaping Improvements Coming to Waveny Pool This Summer

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Waveny Pool in the 2017 season will see facility upgrades, new furniture, improved landscaping and schedule adjustments designed to meet the wishes of permit-holders who go there through the summer months, officials said. Town officials are addressing concerns about muggy locker rooms and privacy in bathrooms, and the fees generated by the sale of permits also are funding the purchase of new umbrellas and chairs, according to Sally Campbell, chair of the Parks & Recreation Commission. A committee that helps oversee Waveny Pool has met five times since last season and “we have made extensive list and I think we have made huge progress and it’s just going to be great,” Campbell said during the group’s regular meeting, held March 8 at Lapham Community Center. “The big complaints were that the bathroom doors didn’t close, it was too muggy in the locker room and they felt it should be cleaned more. And Steve [Benko] was able to address all of those, and so I think this year people are going to be able to have a much better experience.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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Two shop front units in the new “Heritage Square” condominium complex on Forest Street sold for a combined $2.9 million this week. The street-level commercial spaces are occupied by Embody Fitness Gourmet and Pet Valu. According to a property transfer recorded Tuesday in the Town Clerk’s office, a newly formed company called ‘Connor Rose Realty Inc.’ purchased the units from Forest Street Properties, builder Chris Gatto’s company. An Upper East Side man, Patrick Mitchell, is listed in Connecticut Secretary of the State records as principal of the new property owner. ***

New Canaan High School officials said in a bulletin for parents this week that they’re seeing a rise in the number of student smoking e-cigarettes—or “vaping”—in school.

Around Town

‘Just a Fun, Family, Social Activity’: Wednesday Night Concerts at Waveny in Full Swing

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Since 1980, scores of New Canaanites each summer have descended on the grounds behind Waveny House for free, weekly concerts that are sponsored by local businesses. Featuring a wide array of music genres—from jazz and country to classic rock and oldies—the series is organized through the New Canaan Recreation Department and has emerged over the years as a staple of family-friendly summertime activity in town. Though the kickoff concert this year was held on the same evening as New Canaan High School graduation and the even of the last day of school for the district, some 400 or 500 people still turned out for the show, according to Recreation Director Steve Benko. Since then, the weekly crowds have climbed upwards of 800 attendees, he said. “It’s just a nice night out with the family,” Benko said.

News

Rec Soccer in New Canaan Sees a Welcome Uptick in Registrants

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Michael Rau’s kids had played a little soccer in New York City prior to the family’s move up to New Canaan last July, when he started in the position of assistant rector at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. The father of three—daughters Talie, 14, and Kay, 10, and son Peyton, 8—decided on moving to New Canaan that his younger kids should try out the fall soccer program run through the town’s Recreation Department. It’s a decision that Rau says immediately helped pave the way for his kids to get to know the New Canaan community and its residents. “And it was great as a parent, too, because we got to meet new people, as well.