Board of Finance

Finance Board: Wait Until Summer To Fund Town-Wide Survey

By |

Town finance officials said this week that since there’s no money in the current budget for a proposed survey of residents regarding spending priorities in the town—a survey estimated to cost $16,000 to $19,000—that it must wait for the fiscal year starting July 1 to get underway. Though there is “wide support to do the survey,” Board of Finance Chairman Todd Lavieri said during the group’s regular meeting Tuesday night, funding it would require a special appropriation. “We just do not have money in this budget, so it has got to be the next one,” Lavieri said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. Lavieri added that there are also open questions such as what firm to use and how the survey would be conducted. Ultimately, no one on the Board proposed a special appropriation to fund the survey now.

First Selectman: New Proposal for Using Irwin House Has Emerged

By |

The town’s highest elected official said this week that a new suitor has come forward with a proposal to use the main house in Irwin Park, a public building that’s been vacant since municipal offices moved back downtown more than three years ago. Though New Canaan has already obtained an estimate to demolish Irwin House, “a party came forward and wanted to talk to us about a new proposal,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said during the Board of Finance’s regular meeting Tuesday at Town Hall. “So we are evaluating that proposal and that is why I talked to John Irwin to see if he is willing to modify his deed restrictions to accommodate it,” Moynihan said, referring to the past owner or Irwin House. “So we will come back with a more concrete proposal for you to consider. Demolition is always the alternative.”

It wasn’t immediately clear what party has an interest in using Irwin House or for what purpose.

Board of Finance

First Selectman: Tenant Lined Up for Former Outback Teen Center

By |

New Canaan’s highest elected official said last week that the town believes it has a tenant lined up to rent the upper floor of the long-vacant former Outback Teen Center building behind Town Hall. The town also is “working on a proposal to move Human Services to the lower level of the Outback,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan told members of the Board of Finance during their special meeting Oct. 23. “We think we have a private renter for the upper level,” he said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “We will make that building operate on two separate levels independently.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

By |

The pre-American Revolution era White Oak Shade Road home that made headlines recently when its new owners started to demolish part of it without a permit—then claimed it was a misunderstanding, only to raze the whole structure—is back on social media. The owners posted on Facebook Marketplace that they’re selling the “antique original beams” from the antique house ($150 apiece). On July 13 they applied to the New Canaan Building Department for a permit on an estimated $280,000 job that will include “alteration of first and second floor of existing foundation walls” and “adding four bedrooms and 4.5 baths.”

***

Police on Tuesday picked up what they described as a sad-looking, lethargic crow sitting on Elm Street. Officer Allyson Halm of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section said a veterinarian who examined the bird found nothing physically wrong with it, though officials with Wildlife In Crisis said the crow most likely was suffering from West Nile Virus. ***

Congratulations to Selectman Kit Devereaux on the birth of her first grandchild. 

William Fielding Colestock entered the world July 18, born to Devereaux’s daughter Anne Devereaux (Geitz) Colestock and Mac Colestock.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

By |

First Selectman Kevin Moyinhan said during a media briefing Thursday that he’s asked one of New Canaan’s foremost nonprofit figures—Leo Karl III—to lead the New Canaan Athletic Foundation. Karl, known for his extensive volunteer work with organizations that include the New Canaan Community Foundation, where he had served as president, agreed to take on the role, according to Moynihan. Praised by Moynihan for its fundraising ability, the NCAF among other organizational priorities is seeking to establish its own nonprofit arm along the lines of what a similar  group has in Darien, the first selectman said. ***

A Darien homeowner is taking a New Canaan man and his company to small claims court for $4,660.32, saying he committed breach of contract by failing to complete painting work, sealing broken plumbing behind “impenetrable tile and drywall work” and incorrectly installing tile, according to a complaint filed in May. In an answer and counterclaim, the New Canaan man said he’s owed $2,089.63 and that the plaintiff is suing for work not included in the contract.