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The five firefighters that had been in isolation due to exposure to COVID-19 are all healthy and have returned to work, Fire Chief Jack Hennessey told members of the Board of Selectmen Tuesday.. ***

New Canaan Police fielded seven reports of larcenies from motor vehicles in the first two months of 2020, compared to zero in the same period last year, according to data reviewed at Monday’s regular meeting of the Police Commission. Car crashes with injuries increased from four to nine in the same period, data show, while radar-related incidents declined from 173 to 83. ***

The Town Council on Tuesday voted to reappoint Mike Sweeney and Bernard Simpkin to the New Canaan Housing Authority. ***

Here’s a CNN video of anchor Brianna Keilar interviewing the Rev. Peter Walsh of New Canaan, who performed last rites over the phone for a local man and parishioner who had contracted COVID-19. 

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New Canaan’s Alessia Miller—together with Meghan D. Hely Walsh as well as Dana Cifone and chef Stephen Lewandowski of the Townhouse Restaurant in Greenwich—received a great boost in efforts to support her sister, Tania Mariani, an Emergency Room attending physician at Greenwich Hospital. Asked if they would donate food to the Emergency Department staff, New Canaan moms and other residents of the town and surrounding area donated more than $800, according to Miller, and the restaurant matched the donation in food.

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The New Canaan Community Foundation has launched a COVID-19 Response Fund to “support the emergency financial needs of New Canaan families,” among other efforts. Read more here. ***

Police on Tuesday morning arrested the fourth suspect—a 19-year-old Kimberly Place man—in the predawn New Year’s Day burglary from Acme supermarket on Elm Street. The New Canaan teens stole $15 in paper towels, police said. ***

May Fair is cancelled due to the COVID-19 emergency, St.

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Municipal officials on Thursday denied a request to view a legal opinion rendered by the town attorney’s firm regarding New Canaan’s volunteer firefighters. The following line items and billing hours appear in a legal bill approved Feb. 11 by the Board of Selectmen, detailing what are described as professional tasks achieved by Berchem & Moses lawyers Christopher Hodgson, Kyle Roseman, Meredith Diette and Rebecca Goldberg, between Jan. 6 and 24 (New Canaan taxpayers fund an $8,5000 monthly retainer with the firm): 

“Follow up re: volunteer firefighters (.5 hours);
“Discussed strategy for payment of volunteer firefighters advice letter (.3 hours);
“Drafting advice letter re: payment of volunteer firefighters (.6 hours);
“Research volunteer firefighter issue (1 hour);
“Drafting advice letter re: payment of volunteer firefighters (2 hours);
“Review volunteer opinion memo; forward first draft to [Town Human Resources Director Cheryl Pickering-Jones] (.7 hours);
“Drafted advice letter re: use of volunteer firefighters to cover for career firefighter shifts (4 hours);
“Edited advice letter (1 hour);
“Emailed letter along with summary and additional memos of law for review (.4 hours);
“Research, review and revision of opinion letter re: volunteer firefighters (2 hours);
“Interoffice communication re: volunteer firefighter issue; research recent law re: same and draft language for opinion letter re: same (1.1 hours); 
“Research re: definition of volunteer firefighter; interoffice conference re: same (1.5 hours);
“Continued research for volunteer firefighter opinion; revise draft letter (1.7 hours);
“Interoffice communication re: volunteer firefighter issue (1.3 hours);
“Research, review and revision of opinion letter re: volunteer firefighters (1.3 hours);
“Interoffice discussions re: volunteer firefighters; review and analyze DOL opinion letters re: same (.7 hours);
“Final revisions to opinion letter re: volunteer firefighters (.8 hours);
“Interoffice communication re: volunteer firefighters (.7 hours);
“Conference with C. Jones to follow up re: volunteer firefighter issue (.3 hours);
“Reviewed final draft of letter re: compensation of unpaid firefighters (.5 hours);
“Draft memo re: volunteers; telephone conference with C. Jones.”

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The Town Clerk’s office on Feb. 20 recorded a notice of a $13,398.51 state real estate tax lien for the White Oak Shade Road home whose owners include a husband and wife who pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with a health care fraud scheme. 

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The Board of Education has scheduled a special meeting for March 2 to conduct a “student disciplinary hearing” in executive session.

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More than $35,000 has been raised toward a $50,000 goal to support the 5-year-old daughter of Michelle Pavia, who died Jan. 25 in a Maine snowmobiling accident. Pavia is the niece of former New Canaan High School Principal Tony Pavia and also the niece of town resident Mary Ellen Guarnieri. The GoFundMe page “Making It Happen for Mia” is here. Nearly 300 individuals donations have come in so far.

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Police at 7:55 a.m. Thursday arrested a 47-year-old Binghamton, N.Y. man and charged him with second-degree failure to appear. The man turned himself in on an active paperless re-arrest warrant. He’d been arrested in October 2014 and charged by New Canaan Police with sixth-degree larceny, court records show. ***

The proposed selectmen’s budget unveiled this week includes earmarks of $30,000 for fiscal year 2023 and $250,000 the following year for the Animal Control shelter. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said Thursday that if the New Canaan YMCA doesn’t take over the vacated residence at Kiwanis Park under a possible future partnership with the town, the structure could be converted for use as a new animal shelter.