Government

Cherry Trees Coming To Cherry Street

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After planting elm trees on Elm Street, New Canaan’s tree warden on Tuesday said he’s bringing cherry trees to Cherry Street. Bob Horan, owner of Pauley Tree & Lawn Care Inc., told the Board of Selectmen that he’s overseeing the planting of three cherry trees near the corner of Cherry Street and Burtis Avenue where a dead sugar maple now stands. “I like the cherries on Cherry and elms on Elm—I commend you for that,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said during the board’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. The discussion emerged as Mallozzi and Selectman Beth Jones by a 2-0 vote (Selectman Nick Williams was absent) approved a $14,160 contract with a Stamford-based tree care company for multiple tree pruning and removals at various locations around town. The work at Burtis and Cherry is part of the bid won by Stamford-based Almstead Tree, Shrub & Lawn Care, Horan said.

Around Town

New Canaan Marks Anniversary of 9/11 with Memorial Ceremony on Front Lawn of Town Hall

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Robin Gestal, vice president of the New Canaan Volunteer Ambulance Corps, was in midtown Manhattan on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. A safe distance from the World Trade Center, she made it home to her family that same day. Here, officials alerted New Canaan’s emergency medial service that it needed personnel in New York City. “Our EMTs gathered at headquarters,” Gestal recalled on Monday morning, addressing a crowd of residents, police, fellow EMTs, town officials and municipal workers gathered on the front lawn of Town Hall for New Canaan’s annual 9/11 remembrance ceremony.

Government

Parks Superintendent: Town Playing Fields ‘Better Conditioned Now Using Less Pesticides and More Organics’

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Officials last week approved more than $100,000 for the purchase and application of grass treatment products at New Canaan’s athletic fields, both on school grounds and in parks. A figure that has come down as some grass fields are converted to artificial turf, the approximately $109,000 approved by the Board of Selectmen will be divided between two contracts: $90,911 for the purchase of products from Burlington, Mass.-based Tom Irwin Inc. and $18,200 for Harwinton-based Championship Turf Services to apply them. “It has been working great separating the products from the company that is applying them,” John Howe, parks superintendent with the New Canaan Department of Public Works, told the selectmen at their Aug. 22 meeting, held in Town Hall. “We own the products and we know how much we are supposed to apply and make sure that we get that applied.

Government

Selectmen Approve Contract To Replace Guiderails on Nursery Road

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Officials last week approved funds to improve the guiderails along the sides of a town road that the state had deemed “poor” and in need of “corrective action.”

The new, Merritt Parkway-style guiderails for Nursery Road will replace the existing cable ones, following a unanimous vote by the Board of Selectmen for a $58,750 contract with a Plainville-based company to do the work. “The [Connecticut Department of Transportation] rated this guiderail as ‘poor’ so it needs corrective action,” Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer with the New Canaan Department of Public Works, told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held Aug. 22 in Town Hall. “They say it’s a high priority of corrective action. It’s a residential area so we are going with a Merritt Parkway-style rail and the funds are available in the guiderail account.”

The contractor is Eagle Fence & Guardrail.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station found a West Nile Virus-infected mosquito in New Canaan, state officials said Thursday, in what’s called the ‘Hoyt Swamp.’ That’s located up against the Merritt Parkway near Exit 38 (here). No human cases of the virus have been reported in the state this season. Officials say using mosquito repellant and covering up when the insects are most active (dawn and dusk) are simple, effective prevention measures. ***

Pet Pantry Warehouse on Grove Street—host of the annual Dog Days New Canaan—is hiring management and entry-level personnel for its store here in town. ***

The Board of Selectmen this week voted 3-0 to approve the hiring of Nathan Vass Jr. as a welder equipment operator in the Department of Public Works.