Government

Selectmen Vote 3-0 To Recommend Capital Plan with $10 Million for Library, Police Station Projects

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday voted unanimously to recommend a Five-Year Capital Plan that includes earmarks of $10 million for the New Canaan Library’s rebuilding project and $10 million for a long-discussed renovation of the New Canaan Police Department. 

The Capital Plan—a fluid planning document that’s required by the Town Charter—calls for four $2.5 million payments to the library starting next fiscal year, and $5 million in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 for the police station. The selectmen’s 3-0 vote in favor of the Capital Plan does not amount to an appropriation—an allocation of taxpayer funds toward either project would require public hearings with multiple appointed and elected bodies. The document now moves to the Board of Finance. 

Officials representing the library and NCPD both have described their buildings as inefficient and limiting, with aging physical plants that haven’t undergone substantial upgrades in decades. 

The Police Department renovation “would be two-year project and we anticipate a year of planning,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said. He voted in favor of recommending the Capital Plan, as did Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams.

Williams said all the selectmen agree “that the library should be fully funded.”

“Yes, it’s a lot of money, it’s $10 million over four years but it’s one for two,” Williams said. “The public-private partnership is putting in $20 million from private money, and 20 plus 10 is 30, so it’s a one for two and it’s something I am very supportive of.”

Devereaux said, “Although I do support the capital expenditure.

Government

Selectmen Restore Placeholder for Kiwanis Park Funding; Board of Finance Decision Looms

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday proposed a spending plan for next fiscal year that restores funding to operate Kiwanis Park, though the future of the Old Norwalk Road facility remains uncertain. The selectmen voted 3-0 to pass along to the Board of Finance an overall operating budget of about $153.6 million, representing a year-over-year spending increase of 1.1%. The figure includes Board of Education spending. In a budget season that has seen the finance board call for an operating reduction of 2% in municipal departments, an initial draft proposed spending plan before the selectmen had essentially de-commissioned Kiwanis Park by removing funding for it. Yet Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams during the Board’s regular meeting at Town Hall pushed to have $47,000 restored to Kiwanis so that recreation officials have a chance to reinvigorate the park under a reduced-hours schedule next summer.

Board of Selectmen

Selectman Williams Calls for Closer Look at Certain ‘Special Projects Funds’

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Selectman Nick Williams last week called for the town to pay closer attention to privately donated money that’s earmarked for specific local projects and causes and is controlled by municipal department heads and the volunteer bodies that oversee them. The money in various “Special Projects Funds” is “floating around” and the town “ought to get a handle” on them, Williams said during the Jan. 23 regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen. 

“Somebody has got to bring together all of these funds and [say], ‘Here is the purpose, here is what the money was supposed to be used for, there is still some money left over, the purpose has gone away, what do we do with the money?’ Something like that,” Williams said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. The town’s annual audit defines “Special Projects Funds” as those “used to account for donations from individuals and private organizations to be used for the stated purpose.” They cover funds for a wide range of causes, including the New Canaan Police Department K9 program, Waveny House and garden, platform tennis, land acquisition, New Canaan Food Pantry and Family Fourth. Some of the project names listed in the audit are more generic, such as “Human Services” (fund balance of about $133,000, as of June 30) and “Parks & Recreation” ($41,182).

Board of Selectmen

After Dulos Case, New Canaan Police Investigators Seek More Video Surveillance Throughout Town

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Police investigators in New Canaan hope that the town’s plan to install cameras at Waveny’s entrances as a result of the Dulos case leads to more video surveillance throughout town. For the fourth straight year, the New Canaan Police Department Investigative Section is asking that municipal officials especially consider installations at the town border and entrance and exit ramps of the Merritt Parkway, according to an end-of-year report from the head of the section, Lt. Jason Ferraro. “This is directly supported by the Dulos case and the huge role that video evidence played in leading to the arrests of [Fotis] Dulos and [Michelle] Troconis,” Ferraro said in the report, discussed briefly at Jan. 15 regular meeting of the Police Commission and obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request. 

“We realize this is a capital item but having LPR’s [“license plate recognition” cameras] located at strategic locations would greatly improve our ability to get ahead in an investigation and improve the likelihood of an arrest occurring. Hopefully the approval to install cameras at Waveny Park as a result of the Dulos case will be the beginning of more cameras at vital locations within New Canaan.”

The Board of Selectmen last month approved the hiring of a Bridgeport-based technology consulting firm to put together an RFP for updating security systems in New Canaan.

Board of Selectmen

‘I View This As An Expendable Area’: Future of Kiwanis Park Uncertain

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Months after ridding a town-owned home in Kiwanis Park of its tenants, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan disclosed Tuesday that the structure could be used for New Canaan YMCA summer camp operations under a new public-private partnership. 

The Y has “a very vibrant activity there, and we are in discussions with them about having them take over the house which is now vacated,” Moynihan said during the Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. 

“Also, the YMCA could perhaps accommodate some of these smaller activities to supervise that [with] lifeguards of theirs, so it could become more of a public-private partnership to use the park,” he continued. Addressing parks officials during a presentation of the Recreation Department’s budget, Moynihan added, “We really don’t need to maintain a facility [at Kiwanis]. We are accommodating out-of-towners at the [Waveny] pool, basically to supplement the budget. And we probably don’t need to do that any more because the pool has really become very active. So the discussion is, do we really want to maintain what in my view is an outdated facility or do we want to try to resuscitate it?”

In order to meet a Board of Finance operating budget guideline for municipal departments of -2%, “you have to figure out which activities we cease doing and cut back, and everything can’t be done in one year,” he said.