Government

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

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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

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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.

Officials: New Canaan’s Shekaiba Bennett Set To Become First-Ever Woman To Serve on Police Commission

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The Board of Selectmen are scheduled to vote Tuesday on the appointment of the first-ever woman to the New Canaan Police Commission. Shekaiba Bennett is a 16-year resident of the town who has served on the Historic District Commission, Democratic Town Committee, board of the Interfaith Council and New Canaan Library Art and Stoddard Art Committees and is co- chair of the United Nations Committee of New Canaan. Nominated to the selectmen through the DTC, Bennett said she was “deeply honored that I am given this opportunity to serve this town that I love.”

Asked why she pursued a nomination to the Police Commission specifically, she said, “I feel like it’s one of the commissions where you learn a lot about the town and what is going on. My history in the past 16 yrs of being in this town has always been getting involved in things that I can getter understand how the town operates, and I feel like this Commission is one of those that I, as a citizen of this town, can give back to the community.”

A professional documentary photographer and art educator who works as photography teacher at Greenwich High School, she also will be the first woman to serve on the three-member appointed body, officials say. Her nomination comes about 18 months after lifelong New Canaanite Beth Jones became the first woman appointed to the Fire Commission.

Board of Selectmen

First Selectman: ‘I Really Don’t Want To Have To Close the Parks’

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New Canaan’s highest elected official said Tuesday that he wants to keep public parks open for residents, though that could change if those using the open spaces violate health guidelines or if new guidance comes down regarding COVID-19. Town officials kept parks such as Waveny and Mead open “because the parks are such a vital resource, to be able to get out into the fresh air” according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. “It’s important that people have access to the parks, in my mind,” he said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held via videoconference. 

“They closed the parks in cities around us, Norwalk and Stamford. It’s very important—and we opened up the turf fields—it’s very important that the young people realize that they can get out and throw the ball around with a friend or two or three. But we cannot have any group activities, especially contact sports, something like basketball and things that put people too closely in touch with each other.

Government

Town Calls for Volunteers To Help New Canaan Seniors Stay Home During COVID-19 Emergency

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Town officials are calling for volunteers to help run errands for New Canaan residents 75-and-older so that those individuals most at-risk to COVID-19 are able to stay home. A list of some 1,434 residents in the age bracket has been pared down to about 900 after those already receiving care and services through local organizations such as Waveny LifeCare Network and Staying Put in New Canaan were removed, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. 

Volunteers are needed to help “order meals from restaurants, get their groceries, pick up prescriptions at the pharmacies,” Moynihan said during a regular Board of Selectmen meeting held Tuesday via videoconference. 

“We would like to have a 1-on-1 relationship where a volunteer takes on a couple or a few seniors to be able to go to the grocery store instead of having them go,” he said. Many of the 900 people identified are “very active and vital people” who do not require assistance themselves, “but the key is they could stay home, given their age they are the most vulnerable, so ideally we want to get to a point where we get as many volunteers as possible.”

Those interested in volunteering should contact Interim Director of Human Services Bethany Zaro, Moynihan said. Her email is Bethany.Zaro@newcanaanct.gov, according to the municipal website. 

“All of our town employees and our volunteers are doing a terrific job,” Moynihan said. He said that Emergency Management Director Mike Handler and Health Director Jen Eielson especially have been doing “an absolutely tremendous job” during the COVID-19 emergency. 

Moynihan announced Sunday that Town Hall is closed to the public and that the “most essential” municipal workers are reachable via phone and email to respond as best they could.