Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

By |

The video embedded above is the widely discussed panel on opioid abuse, including heroin, in New Canaan. Produced by Channel 79, the video is a great way for those who were unable to attend the packed-house event at Town Hall to catch up. ***

We’re told that the Board of Education on Monday night voted to request an $87,030,631 operating budget for next fiscal year—some $1.5 million less than the superintendent’s original proposed operating budget (as the town will replenish health insurance reserves for this year). The spending plan requires review and approval from the Boards of Selectmen and Finance, and the Town Council. The school board added $35,000 for club sports financial support.

Around Town

‘We Cannot Wait Any Longer’: Library To Pursue New Building Despite South Avenue Holdout

By |

Though unable as yet to acquire a key .19-acre property on their block, New Canaan Library officials say they’re prepared to develop a new set of architectural plans for a widely anticipated rebuilding project. Regardless of whether they can buy a mid-block South Avenue home that’s bordered on three sides by library property, “We will be pushing forward on a capital campaign and starting to re-engage the architects by the end of this financial year,” Library Director Lisa Oldham told the Board of Selectmen last week. “Our preference is to get that property for the sake of the town of New Canaan—the building that we already have designs for is beautiful, and it would be a real asset to the town,” Oldham said Friday during a presentation of the library’s proposed budget at a special selectmen meeting, held at Town Hall. “If we don’t get that piece of property, we cannot all be held waiting. We can build a very nice library without that property—it will be on the front axis of that property.

News

‘You Had Me At Hello’: First Selectman Supports Addition of Special Ed Admin in Public Schools

By |

The town’s highest elected official last week voiced support for the Superintendent of Schools’ request to add a third full-time special education administrator to New Canaan Public Schools’ staff. Designed to more effectively manage special ed staff and cases, the addition is “something important to my values,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said Wednesday during the first presentation of Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi’s draft proposed budget to the Board of Selectmen. “If we have enrollment that is driving this, then that’s [why] we all voted for [the expansion at] Saxe,” Mallozzi said during the presentation, held in a board room at Town Hall. “This position here is some that on an emotional and any kind of level seems very important, so I am delighted to see it in the budget.”

“You had me at ‘Hello’ with this,” Mallozzi said with respect to the request, offering high praise for the two administrators in place now and their ability to carry a large workload. Currently, two administrators divide the work of overseeing special education in the public schools—evaluating and supervising all staff, communicating with parents, sitting in on meetings, keeping abreast of developments in special ed requirements and regulations—one responsible for pre-K through fifth grade, the other sixth grade through “Launch” (any special ed student through age 21).

Government

Town Officials Lean Toward New Parking Deck Design on Locust

By |

Town officials said Wednesday that they’ve narrowed down the design for the eagerly anticipated Locust Avenue parking deck to three candidates, and appear to be leaning toward a model that would add 89 new spaces overall. Each design includes two levels, but an originally conceived model with a “donut” in the center would create problems with snow removal and, because it would need to be built right up against a property line, concerns for neighbors seeking screening, according to Michael Pastore, director of the New Canaan Department of Public Works. Another possibility is a design that includes a ramp between two levels, though because of that space-hogging ramp, it would yield only 61 new spaces overall—a concern given the parking crunch on that side of town, Pastore told the Board of Selectmen during a presentation of DPW’s capital budget request for next fiscal year. The best possibility—and the three “finalists” emerged from a field of eight, working with a Norwalk firm—is a standard model that includes a buffer around it to screen the parking deck from neighbors and would yield 89 new spaces, though it would not offer a connection between the on-grade and upper levels of the deck, Pastore said. “The disadvantage as some people would see—and this came up from the Parking Commission—is there is no connection between the deck and on-grade parking,” Pastore said during the meeting, held at Town Hall.

Government

Town Officials Seek To Set Aside $10,000 for Community Facility ‘The Hub,’ Formerly Outback Teen Center

By |

One year after the Outback Teen Center received no town funding as its board at the time sought to forge a public-private partnership with New Canaan, town officials are proposing to put $10,000 into a contingency fund that could support a re-branded facility under new leadership that’s designed to serve a wider demographic. Because the major program expected to run out of “The Hub,” as the newly launched Outback building has been re-branded, would meet a major need by serving special needs adults, the Health & Human Services Commission for next year’s budget is seeking to set aside $10,000 to support the nonprofit organization, according to Judy Dunn, the commission’s chair. “The state of Connecticut stops aiding special needs people at age 21, so after that they get nothing,” Dunn told the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday in proposing a spending plan for next fiscal year. “Because this is an entirely new program, we didn’t want to take the entire amount they asked for and just say, ‘Here,’ ” Dunn said at the meeting, held at Town Hall. “We did not feel that was fiscally responsible of us to do.