News

NewCanaanite.com Endorsement for First Selectman

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Some voters will head to their towns’ polls on Tuesday to choose from among zero qualified candidates for top elected offices—New Canaan is fortunate in having two. Kit Devereaux, the Democratic candidate, and her opponent, Republican Kevin Moynihan, both bring big brains, useful experience and strong records of community service to their bids for the top job at Town Hall. Three demonstrated skills—ability to say ‘No,’ manage people and work outside of party politics—make Devereaux better equipped. Forthright and assured, Moynihan is a Town Councilman and retired corporate attorney who has the bearing of a first selectman and would also make a good one. His central strength is his creativity.

Government

Cell Service: Town Hires Consulting Firm To Help Draft Updated Telecom Regulations

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Saying expert help is needed, officials on Tuesday approved a $7,500 allocation to hire an Simsbury-based consulting firm to help New Canaan review and revise the telecommunications section of its zoning regulations. The Board of Selectmen by a 3-0 vote approved the request from Interim Town Planner Keisha Fink during its regular meeting. According to Fink, Planning & Zoning Commission Chairman John Goodwin had recommended hiring Planimetrics since the town had “identified a need to be proactive in updating” the relevant section of the regulations. “Myself and other members of the Planning & Zoning Commission have reviewed the current telecommunications zoning regulations and feel it is prudent that the town have in place standards that should address any future applications affecting the siting of antenna facilities in town,” Fink said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “We believe that the Hiring of Planimetrics is the most efficient use of the town’s time and resources in order to bring forth a more comprehensive telecommunications regulations.”

Selectman Beth Jones said the general consensus is that “everyone wants to move ahead with this as quickly as possible, so we can get some professional help from people who have dealt with this before.”

Jones, First Selectman Rob Mallozzi and Selectman Nick Williams voted in favor of the allocation for Planimetrics.

Government

‘The Cacophony of Finger-Pointing’: Selectmen Voice Concerns over Third-Party Review of NCHS Fields Project

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Saying that a very able town-appointed committee appears to be directing funds for outside contractors instead of handling the work itself, members of the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday voiced concerns regarding how reviews of the track and fields projects at the high school will affect public-private partnerships and volunteerism in New Canaan. When the town first formed the Audit Committee, Selectman Beth Jones said, she was “under the crazy impression that they were actually going to do some of this auditing and stuff.”

“I did not know they would just tell us what needed to be done and pay outside people,” Jones said during the selectmen’s meeting, held at Town Hall. “I would hope they are all such financial experts and so great at this that I would love their insight on what needs to be done, rather than just handing it off and paying $16,000 to somebody else.”

She referred to funds to be paid to independent auditors who, at the request of the Audit Committee, will take on reviews of how the building projects at New Canaan High School have unfolded. The projects, partially completed, include re-turfing a playing field, creating a new turf field-and-a-half and replacing the track. Originally estimated to cost $4.9 million, with the town committing $3.9 million in bonding, the project itself was changed in June by a Fields Building Committee as higher-than-expected costs emerged.

Government

New Handrails Coming to Two Culvert Crossings on Waveny Trail

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a $20,000 contract—nearly all of that to be funded privately—to install wooden handrails over two culverts on newly upgraded trails at Waveny. The work by Wilton-based Riverside Fence is a final touch from the nonprofit Waveny Park Conservancy on the organization’s improved trails running from South Avenue to the four-way along the main road through the park, according to Tiger Mann, New Canaan’s public works director. “The Conservancy would like to see a couple of handrails put over the top for fall protection,” Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held in Town Hall. The Conservancy is paying for all but $1,000 of the work, Mann said. Keith Simpson, a prominent landscape architect in town who is a member of the Conservancy’s board of directors, solicited the quote from Riverside Fence—the same company that installed the new footbridge he designed at Mead Park to complete the Gold Star Walk.