Government

Town Opts Not To Offer Senior Discount on Dump Sticker Fee

By |

Town officials said last week that they won’t offer seniors a discount on annual sticker fees at the dump, as one resident had suggested. Among peer towns, only Darien offers such a discount, but the sticker fee there is $120 whereas New Canaan’s is going up from $45 to $75, officials said during the April 21 meeting of the Board of Selectmen. Wilton, Westport, Weston and Ridgefield offer no such discount, according to Don Smith, the Department of Public Works’ assistant superintendent of solid waste at the Transfer Station. A senior discount therefore “is not prevalent,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said at the meeting, held via videoconference. 

“Keep in mind, many seniors are in congregate areas where they have contractural services with their rents, such as all the apartment buildings and all the condos and co-ops,” Moynihan said. “So there will be some seniors, obviously—but anyway, we are not going to bring forth a recommendation on a senior discount.

Government

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

By |

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.

Board of Selectmen

Selectmen Vote 3-0 To Defer Some Rental Payments for Tenants of Town-Owned Buildings

By |

Officials decided Tuesday to defer the next three months’ rent for a handful of local businesses and nonprofit organizations that rent space in town-owned buildings. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said he wanted to propose a 90-day moratorium of rent, inclusive of May, June and July, “to show that the town wants to help our downtown merchants and our nonprofits, especially.”

Noting that businesses such as Bow Tie Cinemas, which rents space from the town-owned Playhouse on Elm Street, have been forced to close, Moynihan told fellow members of the Board of Selectmen, “We ought to be generous.”

“They have no revenues, they are closed,” he said during the Board’s regular meeting, held via videoconference. “And it’s not quite fair to be charging rent in a time of crisis. We want these tenants to be in business four months or six months from now. So we are going to give up some modest amounts of revenue.  But I think it’s the right thing to do and, also, I’d like to show our community landlords that they need to perhaps look at giving some moratorium relief to their tenants.

Bill Oestmann

Town Approves $6,250 Emergency Pump Repair at Playhouse

By |

The Board of Selectmen last week approved $6,250 for the emergency repair of a circulator pump at The Playhouse on Elm Street. The pump, one of three in the basement of the 1923 building, circulates hot water throughout the Playhouse for its heat, according to Bill Oestmann, superintendent of building in the New Canaan Department of Public Works. On a Saturday just before the COVID-19 public health emergency unfolded, a crew entered the building to swap things around and get heat back into the theater, Oestmann told the selectmen during their April 7 meeting, held via videoconference. 

“In doing so, I had to take one of the pumps from an upper level offline, and use it,” Oestmann said. “These pumps are [in a] really tough environment down there. They are all leaking a little bit and they’re very, very old.”

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan had already approved the payment to New Canaan-based Modern Plumbing & Heating for the work on an emergency basis.

Government

Selectmen Vote 3-0 To Raise Dump Sticker Fee

By |

The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday voted unanimously in favor of a 67% increase to annual sticker fees at the dump, a move designed to bring New Canaan more closely aligned with surrounding towns and help recoup what it pays to get rid of household garbage. The fee increase, from $45 to $75, is expected to apply to about one-quarter to one-third of New Canaan’s approximately 7,000 households, since those using private haulers will pay the existing rate, officials said. That includes people living in apartment or condominium complexes who pay for master haulers through rent or other charges, officials said. The average New Canaan household produces about 1.5 tons of garbage per year, and that figure likely will go up amid the COVID-19 emergency as more people are eating at home, Public Works Director Tiger Mann told the selectmen during their regular meeting, held via videoconference. 

With New Canaan paying $90 per ton to haul the garbage away, that means the town is paying out about $135 per residence against a fee of $45 for stickers, he said. “So the thought is to try and chew at that apple a little bit and bring us up just slightly to $75 a permit and try to keep us closer in line with surrounding towns,” Mann said.