The New Canaan Board of Selectmen on Jan. 7 approved a slate of town contracts, purchases and personnel appointments spanning public works, police, fire, parks and human resources.

Major contract approvals and purchases
- Waveny House asbestos abatement and domestic piping: The board approved a Department of Public Works request to contract with Hasbro (Hasbro is the vendor referenced in materials) for removal of asbestos-wrapped domestic water and wastewater piping at the Waveny House basement. The contract amount approved was $22,750 plus a contingency of $4,550, for a total not-to-exceed project cost of $27,300. The work is a phased abatement tied to new domestic piping installation; the overall basement domestic piping/abatement budget estimate is about $200,000.

- Police evidence and general storage systems: The board approved a contract with Aurora Storage Products under state contract for DuPont storage systems for evidence and general storage at the new police department building, in the amount of $131,257.76 plus a $5,000 contingency for a total of $136,257.76. The majority of the cost is high-density mobile shelving in the evidence room.

- Fire Department vehicle: The board authorized the fire department to enter a contract with Mount Kisco Chevrolet for up to $47,000 to acquire a 2024 Chevrolet Traverse (the department expects to outfit the vehicle for command use; outfitting was estimated around $10,000).

- Transfer station loader: The board approved purchase of a new John Deere 624P loader from W I Clark for $271,584.98 after a $20,000 trade-in; the machine replaces an older unit and was funded in the capital budget with a $1,584.98 transfer from another bucket.

- Tax credits and incentives consulting: The board approved a $35,000 contract with Deloitte Global to prepare supporting documentation and submit for federal investment tax credits (Internal Revenue Code Sec. 48) related to the townombined-heat-and-power (CHP) units and commercial clean-vehicle credits for electric vehicles. Deloitte will prepare necessary returns and filings and advise on five-year compliance; expected preliminary estimates cited in the presentation ranged from roughly $100,000 to $131,000 for available credits on CHP, with separate potential credits for EVs.

- IT support and other purchases: The board approved an annual Cisco Smart Net support contract with LEAF (Cisco support) in the amount of $54,621.15. The board also approved smaller DPW purchase order increases and a Bluestone sidewalk repair contract (Peter Lanny Inc.) for Park Street work at $13,507 plus a $2,000 contingency.

Other contracts and municipal services
- Sidewalk design and survey: The board authorized contracts for South Avenue pedestrian-ramp survey and design work with Chris DeAngelis PE LLC ($20,000) and Chevelin Land Surveying LLC ($18,000). The design covers 23 intersections and 47 pedestrian ramps between Cherry Street and Surrey Road; the full construction estimate for ADA-compliant ramp upgrades along the corridor was presented at about $205,000.

- Tree service and other public-works maintenance: The town awarded tree-service work to Olmsted Tree & Shrub Company for $20,604 to remove and prune trees across 15 locations, including Mead Park.

Approvals, tax abatement and personnel
- Volunteer first-responder tax abatement: The board approved a tax abatement request for a volunteer first responder (Savannah Cardona) under the town ordinance "Property Tax Abatement and Other Benefits for Volunteer First Responders" (town ordinance approved June 17, 2020). The approved abatement was $224.48 for the tax year.

- Human resources appointments: The board approved several personnel actions, including the appointment of Sebastian Caldarella as Director of Assessments and Taxation; the appointment of Charles Lewis Boyse ("Lou") as highway superintendent; removal of probationary status for Lisonbee Kiena as tax assessment technician; appointment of Alexander Safi to the Ethics Board (term to Dec. 1, 2027); and moving Nick Metraksis from alternate to regular member of the Board of Finance (term to Nov. 15, 2026). These personnel motions were approved by the board.

How the board voted: Most contract and personnel motions were approved unanimously as recorded in the meeting minutes. Where the transcript records a different outcome (the registrar compensation vote, discussed in a separate article), the board noted opposition but still approved the motion. Several agenda items had little or no debate and passed on single motions.

Context and next steps: Several board members asked departments to watch contingencies and to follow up with finance on payroll allocations and line-item spending (notably registrar payroll and DPW part-time and overtime). The police evidence shelving, Waveny abatement and Deloitte contract will move to implementation by the responsible departments and procurement staff. For the South Avenue ramp work, DPW indicated possible scheduling to coordinate with planned road closures tied to a water-main project to reduce traffic impacts.

Ending: The board closed the business portion of its Jan. 7 meeting after the listed approvals and moved into the ongoing budget review cycle.