Board of Selectmen

Selectmen Approve Plan for Security Cameras at Waveny

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Acceding to a grassroots push to install cameras at Waveny as per a police recommendation, the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday voted 3-0 to solicit proposals for updating security systems in New Canaan. Responses to a RFP likely would come back in December or January, officials said, giving the town an idea of costs as New Canaan sets its spending plan for next fiscal year. The local mom and attorney behind an online petition this summer that kickstarted the town’s efforts, Hilary Ormond, said during an interview after the Board meeting that she was “cautiously optimistic” about the progress. “I want to see this through,” said Ormond, who attended the meeting at Town Hall as a guest. “I want to see it actually happen.

Board of Selectmen

‘A Dump Within a Dump’: Selectman Williams Calls for Improved Animal Shelter

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The town’s Animal Control shelter—which occupies about 800 square feet in a non-insulated former incinerator building at the dump—is not suitable to house dogs and other animals, Selectman Nick Williams said Tuesday. Given that the shelter soon will need a new roof, which officials estimate will cost $75,000 to $80,000, New Canaan should plan for an improved future facility or to outsource the care of lost or dumped animals, Williams said during the Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting. “To be clear, we are talking about maybe 50, 60, 70 animals a year going in there—it’s not high usage but it’s also not a great place to keep animals,” Williams said. The building’s “only use is as an animal shelter, which is a dump,” he said. “A dump within a dump—I’m sorry, a dump within a ‘Transfer Station,’ ” Williams said.

Around Town

Town Increases Youth Sports ‘Player Use Fee’ to $25

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The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday to increase the per-son fee assessed to youth sports participants from $20 to $25. 

Formerly overseen by a selectmen-appointed committee, the “player use fee” now is collected by the New Canaan Athletic Foundation and allocated to an artificial turf replacement fund rather than a budget for additional playing fields, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. Player use fees came to about $54,000 total last year, Moynihan said. “We don’t always collect it all,” he said at the selectmen meeting, held in Town Hall. Moynihan added, “There is some debate as to whether we ought to extend this to the Rec Department programs, which we will consider next year.”

Moynihan and Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams voted 3-0 to up the fee. Williams said it’s been flat at $20 for a number of years.

News

Letter: Local Government Must Be More Inclusive

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Much has been said about inclusion, or lack thereof, in the decision-making process of our town government. It’s my opinion that the process needs to be more inclusive—not for any particular individual, but for the community as a whole. There appears to be a bias against providing town residents with information about proposed process changes and/or projects at the beginnings of discussions about those efforts. The argument against inclusion seems to go something like, “If you want a project to flourish, keep it out of the public eye in the early phases or it will never get off the ground.”

I would respectfully observe that early feedback is invaluable in shaping a project. If the work is done with an absence of participants, then mistakes are inevitable.

News

Selectman Williams Proposes Elimination of Metered Parking in New Canaan

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Shoppers and diners would feel more welcome in New Canaan if they faced enforceable parking time limits instead of pay machines, Selectman Nick Williams said Tuesday. Though cars wouldn’t be allowed to sit in a parking space all day and enforcement officers would ticket overtime violators, New Canaan should look into eliminating metered parking downtown, Williams said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen. “It would be, I think, great for our town in the sense that it would be a talking point: Come to New Canaan, you don’t have to worry about putting money in the meter, don’t have to worry about running out of time,” Williams said during the meeting, held in Town Hall. “You would have to consider it can’t be a situation where you can’t park all day in Morse Court or elsewhere—maybe it’s two hours, maybe it’s three hours, that would be something for discussion— but I put that out there because we need to do whatever we can to support our downtown.”

The comments came during an open discussion of general matters before the town. New Canaan offers metered parking spaces in the Morse Court, Locust Avenue, Park Street, Playhouse, Railroad and Talmadge Hill Lots.