Chairman’s View: Seeking More Transparency from School Leaders, column for June 6, 2018

Chairman’s View: Seeking more transparency from school leaders

JUNE 6, 2018 BY BY JOHN ENGEL, TOWN COUNCIL CHAIRMAN, AND CRISTINA A. ROSS, TOWN COUNCIL

When the Town Council met earlier this year to review the upcoming Board of Education budget for 2018-19, we paid great respect to the challenge they face in providing excellence within 2% guidance alongside rising health care and labor costs. We wanted to approve the administration’s bold experiment to propose an ‘Alternative High School’ within the former Outback building, but it felt premature and the budget did not contain the detailed financial information we needed about a proposed Alternative High School for it to gain approval.

School leaders urged parents to attend the Town Council meetings to support the budget as presented, threatening that extra-curricular activities such as Model UN and favorite classes would be affected if any cuts in the budget were implemented.

Given the reductions in the budget request, it came as a surprise to learn, through the Board of Education (BOE) meeting last week, that the administration was moving ahead with their original plans for an Alternative High School. 

Seeking transparency, finding surprise

I thought we agreed to reduce headcount through attrition. I thought we agreed to start the conversation together about how we could work together for long-term savings. We see job postings for Alternative High School openings are online. We thought we were shedding real estate, and then we read in the newspaper that BOE is discussing real estate for the Alternative High School program in private, because publicity of that could adversely affect the price. The price of what? Where is the transparency in this process? Where is the spirit of cooperation?

Connecticut statutes empower only the BOE to decide how their budget gets appropriated once approved by municipality funding bodies. The Board of Education members have delegated most of that responsibility, which is entrusted to them by their Bylaws, the New Canaan Charter and the state statutes, to the school administration, and those meetings are not open to parents, the press or Town government. 

New Canaan residents and at least a few members of the Town Council are left wondering where did the money for these programs come from.  

At a time of uncertainty with regards to property taxes and taxable deductions, we need to ensure that every dollar we collect is warranted. The approved education budget was not supposed to negatively impact the current special education program. We thought the budget would allow the school administration to continue current programing without any cuts.  

If you really need an Alternative High School please have these conversations in the open. Invite the public and the Town Council in. Provide us some of the supporting documentation of its mission, approach, financial sustainability and success measures. 

The BOE needs to follow its own bylaws with transparency, and when seeking financial support look to quantify the financial impacts. We need to implement prudent, fiscally conservative changes with success measures that are financially responsive to the needs of our community.

Chairman’s View: Urging School Board to Resolve Security Camera Issue, column for May 24, 2018

Chairman’s View: Urging school board to resolve security camera issue

MAY 24, 2018 BY NEW CANAAN TOWN COUNCIL CHAIRMAN JOHN ENGEL

I wrote this column in February and pulled it before publication, because I thought we were making progress. Instead I wrote to the superintendent of schools on Feb. 27. I received no reply. 

For the last several years the New Canaan Police had viewing access to the interior and exterior cameras of all New Canaan Public Schools from their dispatch center. They could select a specific camera if there was an incident. About a year ago police access to the interior cameras was cut off. The police chief was told that the superintendent / Board of Education was concerned about student privacy and cited FERPA laws.

Subsequently the superintendent sent the police a very restrictive memorandum of understanding (MOU), which the chief would not sign. When asked, the chief has said, “These restrictions were not workable especially in an emergency situation. Logging into the system during an emergency is not realistic.”

The police chief revised the MOU months ago to be workable from a student safety perspective. Police access to all school cameras is the next step (albeit small) to ensure student safety. The issue remains unresolved.

One Town Council member defended the right of the superintendent to make that decision saying, “The BOE has made a policy decision that’s entirely within their authority.” How do we know? The BOE does not discuss these important policy changes at their public meetings. 

The main argument is that courts have ruled that security video footage of a public school should remain classified as an educational record under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). It seems crazy to suggest that a live-feed to the police is the same as making security camera footage available to the public. We don’t need to know the details of your security plan, but we expect our police to be involved and consulted on all matters of security. After all, we do not have two police forces — a private one for schools and one for the rest of us. 

We expect police to be involved with drug-sniffing dogs and underage drinking, too — any suspected crime where the police think they have a problem. Chris Hussey raised this question of unannounced police access at a recent Board of Education meeting and learned “they [police] had to give the school notification.” 

The Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that police are permitted to use dogs to sniff out contraband during unannounced, random searches. While the Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable search and seizure the Court ruled that students do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in schools. These issues are related. Please do not keep the police at arms length.

As much as the schools prefer to handle things themselves within their walled garden, school security is not their decision alone. Work with the chief of police; solve this impasse.

Chairman’s View: Support a Ban on House ‘For Sale’ Signs on MAY 8, 2018

Chairman’s View: Support a ban on house ‘for sale’ signs

MAY 8, 2018 BY NEW CANAAN ADVERTISER

The overwhelming majority of New Canaan citizens want to eliminate real estate signs. In a recent poll at the Advertiser Coffee 95% support a ban. They are a blight on our town. The signs would be gone except for the fact that every year a few Realtors object because it is a cheap form of advertising. 

Remember, we are residents first and Realtors second. We want our town to look beautiful, not like a town-wide tag sale. These signs cheapen New Canaan. If we act like our real estate is at a premium then maybe people will begin to regard it that way.

Greenwich and Tokeneke are our high-end sisters that prove the ban works. Greenwich P&Z regulations, section 6-163 (b) prohibits signs that “Direct attention to a business, product, service or other commercial activity, offered or existing elsewhere than on the premises where such sign is displayed.” New Canaan banned commercial signs with the exception of real estate. Nancy Healy, president of the Greenwich Board of Realtors when they enacted their sign ban said, “If New Canaan is going to make this step they’ll find out … it’s a good thing. It took the clutter off our streets. We are used to it now.”

Why now? What has changed? We have more houses on the market than ever before. In March 2008 New Canaan had 155 houses on the market. Ten years later we have 266 houses on the market, up 42%. That’s not the worst of it. The busiest time of the year for signs is coming up. Expect 358 for sale signs this June. That’s over 5% of the whole town. Nationally, houses sell on average in three weeks. In New Canaan some signs stay up for years, a semi-permanent scar. Signs are harming our ability to sell some streets in this town. Buyers now say, “What’s wrong with this street, why is everything on it for sale?”

The New Canaan Board of Realtors is considering the question. Board President Janis Hennessy absolutely supports the ban. Former presidents Joe Scozzafava and Becky Walsh agree we should take down the signs. Past President Arlene Bubbico disagrees, citing the national statistic that 7% of purchases come from signs. However, those statistics reveal 99% of Millennials and 89% of Boomers search online.

The first selectman supports the ban. We Town government leaders want the support of the Board of Realtors before either taking it to Planning and Zoning for a text change or to the Town Council for an ordinance. 

If you want to take back your town and enhance our real estate values then join me in supporting the ban. Call a Realtor and tell them it’s OK to take down the signs.

— John Engel is chairman of the New Canaan Town Council.

Chairman's View: Yes to GreenLink; No to Sharp Elbows - New Canaan Advertiser April 26, 2018

Chairman’s View: Yes to GreenLink; no to ‘sharp elbows’

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APRIL 26, 2018 BY NEW CANAAN ADVERTISER

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” –John Muir (1912)

Fifty New Canaan residents gathered yesterday (Sunday) to open a GreenLink trail more than 50 years in the making. Trace it to Susan Bliss’s gift of the 40-acre Nature Center (1960), Land Trust founder Jack Gunther (1967), gifts by the Betts (1974), Hupper (1974) and Fischer (1977) families, Richard Bergman’s GreenLinks vision (1990), Judy Neville’s purchase of 36.2-acre Irwin Park (2004), Chris Schipper’s debut (2012), Tiger Mann’s sidewalks, bridges by Eagle Scout Max Marsh and Anthony Sillo, the New Canaan Community Foundation and the Nature Center.

I recently asked a family why they moved here. It wasn’t excellent schools and low taxes. She said our neighbors are towns of “sharp elbows,” and New Canaan has a reputation as a nicer place to raise a family. Be proud of that distinction. We cannot put a price on it. It took an uninterrupted thread of 50-plus years, neighbor support and the last 100-foot stretch of trail.

Let’s talk sharp elbows: The First District Water Department, answering to the ratepayers of Norwalk, is threatening to demolish the 225-year-old Grupe-Nichols-Brown house in New Canaan on May 13 to avoid paying property taxes to New Canaan. General Manager Dominick DiGangi was quoted saying, “I have to protect my investment. I have ratepayers, I have taxpayers. That is who I answer to.” Demolition to protect an investment? The First District Water Company does not treat New Canaan equally to its Norwalk constituents. We pay higher rates on hydrants, on connections and for the water. New Canaan receives less than one cent per 1,000 gallons pulled from the Milne and Grupe reservoirs, while the Water Department charges around $4 per 1,000 gallons.

Consider the difference between our two water companies: Aquarion is the fourth-largest taxpayer in New Canaan, paying $291,000 in property taxes. The First District Water Department holds 168 acres, extracts about 1 billion gallons of our water, mostly for the benefit of Norwalk residents, and pays only $9,000 per year in taxes. This particular 4-acre parcel has been for sale for three years because it is surplus property, not used for any department purposes. Oh, by the way, if they need it, it will be there, undeveloped, under the careful eye of the Land Trust. 

The Board of Finance and Town Council voted unanimously to support purchasing the property, using all means necessary, at the fair market price. The whole town is committed to this initiative, backed with financing from the Land Trust and our 50-plus-year history of conservation.

Chairman's View: Town Council faces buildings, Board of Education (MARCH 21, 2018)

Town Council faces buildings, Board of Education

MARCH 21, 2018 BY JOHN ENGEL, CHAIRMAN, NEW CANAAN TOWN COUNCIL

The Town Council choked over a $1 million “placeholder” in the budget to build a “bird-cage” elevator and improve bathrooms at Waveny House. Why was this request shut down so quickly when $500,000 for the Police Department has met no resistance? There are lessons to be learned. 

First, everything to do with Waveny takes more time. The Council wants to see the design documents, the Request for Proposal, host a public hearing, and collect the opinions from the Recreation Department, Historical Society and the Preservation Alliance before we consider any major change to the building. We won’t authorize budget only to kill the project later. The first public hearing to discuss our buildings is scheduled for April 25 or 26 and we’ve asked that these plans and alternatives be published and circulated immediately. 

Second, the Town Council does not like to put placeholders in the budget that tip our hand to contractors how much to bid. Placeholders killed the Outback and Vine Cottage projects. 
Third, if our real objective is to make every building ADA-compliant then there must be less intrusive and less expensive ways to do it. Waveny has an elevator that accesses every floor. Show us why that less-intrusive upgrade isn’t a better plan.

Half a million dollars to start the (planning) of the Police Station renovation is an easy decision. It is expected that a $5 million to $7 million renovation will solve our Police Department needs while providing a new home for the New Canaan Public Schools administration, saving them $300,000 per year in rent.

This is another opportunity to find cost savings by working together and getting more out of our buildings. I believe an Alternative High School at the Outback will save us money and I hope to see a tighter plan.

The Bliss Laundry House at the Nature Center is another example. It would be a win-win if the Land Trust would move their offices to this building on the Nature Center campus for the benefit of both non-profits.

$90 million education

The $90 million elephant in the room is the Board of Education budget. The Town Council should get out of the habit of making a token cut. Last year we cut $100,000 on the last day without knowing the effect. It’s a broken process that starts with an October guidance letter written without input from the Board of Ed. We are broken because we work one year at a time and the only conversation is televised on Channel 79. 

I believe the Board of Ed leadership has committed to meet with representatives of Finance and Council to work on a long-term plan that will meet expense limitations between 2.0%-2.5% without harming our schools. We all want this.

New Canaan Advertiser: Moynihan, Engel pen letter to avoid 1802 Cobbler’s house’s demolition (April 12, 2018)

Moynihan, Engel pen letter to avoid 1802 Cobbler’s house’s demolition

APRIL 13, 2018 BY GRACE DUFFIELD

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Town Council Chairman John Engel signed a letter to the First District Water Department formally expressing interest in the cobbler’s house at 1124 Valley Road. 
The letter states its goal to encourage the owners, First District Water, not to demolish the house at the intersection of Valley Road and Benedict Hill, which the letter says belonged to a cobbler when it was built in 1802. 

“The citizens of New Canaan are asking that we work with you to avoid the loss of an historic homestead and facilitate a constructive dialogue to preserve the house and land,” said Engel and Moynihan.

The 4.4 acres of property and house were purchased by the First District Water Department in 2006 at the edge of Grupes Reservoir property, according to the letter. The house “encapsulates the history and heritage of New Canaan and has been identified as one of the most important original structures of the era,” it said. The Federalist style house was originally built for a cobbler, but was then used as a farmhouse on over 200 acres, according to the epistle.

The letter is said to be on behalf of members of the New Canaan Preservation Alliance, New Canaan Historical Society, New Canaan Land Trust and New Canaan Town government including the Board of Selectman, Town Council, the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Conservation Commision.

The New Canaan Land Trust, which holds the 10.5 acres at the north of the property, has “already quietly begun the process of raising money in the hope the property can be purchased,” Engel and Moynihan wrote.

Back on Jan. 11, the Conservation Commission voted to initiate an inquiry to see if other organizations such as land trust enthusiasts, historical preservationists and environmentalists wish to help preserve it.

A ruling by Historic Review Committee delays the demolition by 90 days, which is up May 13.

This house at 1124 Valley Road may be demolished if the Conservation Commission can not find an alternative. — Grace Duffield photo

https://ncadvertiser.com/120369/moynihan-engel-pen-letter-to-avoid-1802-cobblers-houses-demolition/

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Letter: Calling for buildings sensitive to downtown district JULY 24, 2018 RESPONSE TO MY EDITORIAL JULY 12

Letter: Calling for buildings sensitive to downtown district

JULY 24, 2018 BY MIMI FINDLAY

Editor, Advertiser:

In response to John Engel’s recent opinion piece (‘Expect a high density development on Pine Street,’ July 12, p. 5A):

I love to drive down Pine Street — the little brick buildings on the left, one with lovely grass and enormous trees next to the sidewalk are reminders of our industrial past, while the charming row of businesses opposite, each with its own pedimented and brightly colored door, reflects a residential spirit, looking like townhouses.

As Rachel Carley, the historical consultant hired by New Canaan Preservation Alliance in 2012 to survey that section of town wrote about #50 Pine Street:

“One of a trio, this well-built industrial building designed by William Grey, Redding, Conn. was erected in 1950 shortly after Pine Street was laid out on land donated to the town by the New Canaan Development Co. This structure is identified as an office building on Sunburn Insurance Maps, but the rear loading dock and industrial format of the south election indicate it was also used for light manufacturing. Like its adjacent sister buildings, no. 50 was designed to appear only one-story tall from its side street. By minimizing the appearance of building density in this way, and opting for a Colonial Revival design that displays an eye for detail and workmanship, the architect showed particular sensitivity to the scale and traditional ambience of the downtown business district. The building makes an important contribution to the streetscape, while recalling the role of light industry in New Canaan’s mid-20th century commerce.”

Please note that, in my opinion few, if any, recent buildings in town have shown sensitivity to the scale and traditional ambience of the downtown business district, and none have displayed an eye for detail and workmanship. 

Any new development should at least incorporate these three brick buildings, and put all new construction down the hill behind them.

Mimi Findlay