New Canaan Finance Board Approves Irwin Park Contamination Transfer
Board of Finance · Meeting of September 8, 2026
New Canaan finance board approves $75,500 for contaminated soil at Irwin Park House demolition. First Selectman Diana opened the meeting by addressing "misinformation and increasingly heated rhetoric" over a proposed Waveny Life Care senior-living project, saying she was "particularly concerned about the threatening and inappropriate emails" sent to board members and that no project can proceed without approval from at least five town boards. The Board of Finance also pulled an $8,500 Waveny House signage request after members questioned funding "nice to have" items, returning roughly $44,000 from Waveny House accounts and $32,000 from Parks accounts to capital reserves.
Staff reported six union and eight of 15 non-union employees enrolled in a new pension option. The board separately approved a roughly $70,000 transfer to repair storm-damaged trails at Waveny Park.
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 2,829 words
Source: the Board of Finance meeting of September 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
The Full Article
Roll Call and Minutes
The Board of Finance opened with a full roll call: Todd Levieri, Michael Chen, Chris LaBrese, Victor Alvarez, Maria Weingarten, Bob Hamill, James Young, Nick Matrakis, Jan Schaefer, Alan Bedaines and Fiona Carlson all confirmed attendance, with no alternates needed. The board then took up its July 28 minutes. A member caught a transcription error in the financial-update section that read "seven hundred million" where the intended figure was $700,000 added to the general fund. After a brief exchange about formatting conventions for millions versus thousands in the minutes, the board corrected the figure to three zeros and approved the minutes as amended on a motion by James Young, seconded by Maria Weingarten.
Waveny Life Care: The First Selectman's Statement
Background and stakes: A proposal circulating publicly involves Waveny Life Care and a possible life-plan community, or continuing care retirement community, at the former leaf-mulch pile site inside Waveny Park. The item was not originally on the agenda; the chair asked that it be added after community discussion, described by board members as having "gotten out of control," reached a level requiring direct address from the town's chief elected official.
The question before the body: whether to hear directly from First Selectman Diana on the status of the proposal and the surrounding public controversy, and whether to add that discussion formally to the agenda. The board voted unanimously, on a motion by Nick Matrakis seconded by Maria Weingarten, to add the item.
Substantive content: Diana told the board that discussion of any memorandum of understanding at this stage is "extremely premature." She said the Town Council does not have authority to enter an MOU on its own, that no MOU has been brought before her or the Board of Selectmen in public session, and that no project can move forward at the mulch-pile site without review and approval from all three town boards — the Board of Selectmen, the Board of Finance and the Town Council. Beyond that, she said, any formal proposal would also need approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Inland Wetlands Commission and the Parks and Recreation Commission. She said Waveny Life Care has so far appeared publicly only before the Town Council and has not presented a project to any other board.
The deliberation: Diana used most of her time to address what she called "misinformation and increasingly heated rhetoric" around the proposal. She said she was "particularly concerned about the threatening and inappropriate emails that have reportedly been directed at members of our public boards and members of the Waveny board," and separately said she had recently received a mailing she believed contained "significant mischaracterizations" of what Waveny Life Care is actually proposing. She told the board that residents "absolutely have the right to oppose the project, support it, question it or demand additional information," and called robust public debate "not only appropriate" but "essential," while urging it be conducted "with respect for the people involved." Board members offered no pushback; one member responded simply, "I think you said it all," and another noted the discussion "really got out of control," suggesting the update's purpose was in part to cool tensions rather than resolve a substantive dispute.
Procedural steps and outcome: This was an informational update, not a voted item beyond the agenda addition. No formal action on any Waveny Life Care proposal was taken or was before the board.
Implications and what is next: Any eventual proposal will require public hearings before at least five separate town bodies, meaning the process described by Diana as "nowhere near a final decision" will generate multiple additional public forums. The Board of Finance itself will be one of the required approvers if a project reaches that stage.
Pension Plan Enrollment Update
Background and stakes: The board had discussed a pension-plan change in July and asked for a follow-up on how the rollout, which included a 401(a)/457 option, went with town staff.
The question before the body: how many eligible employees enrolled, and whether the process met its deadline.
Substantive content: A staff member identified as Cheryl told the board that six union members enrolled in the new plan, along with eight of 15 eligible non-union management employees. She said three of four staff members with more than 30 years of service chose to participate in the 401(a)/457 option. She credited board members Todd Levieri, Chris LaBrese and Bob Hamill for working directly with managers to explain the change. The enrollment deadline of August 31 was extended by a couple of days to allow the town's actuaries to finalize numbers, and Cheryl said all changes were being processed into payroll during the week of the meeting.
"The staff have been very positive and thankful that the board of finance was able to set a plan for all of them." [00:08:56] — Cheryl, presenting the pension-enrollment results
Procedural steps and outcome: No vote was required; this was a staff report requested by the chair.
Implications and what is next: With the deadline passed and enrollment finalized, no further board action on this item was scheduled.
Capital Projects Review: Waveny House
Background and stakes: The board picked up a capital-projects cleanup begun in July, working through a list of previously approved but unspent line items, largely tied to Waveny House and the Parks Department, with staff identified as Tiger and John Howe presenting.
The question before the body: for each line item, whether the town still needs the money, and if not, whether it should be returned to capital reserves.
Substantive content: The largest single Waveny House discussion involved an $8,500 placeholder for period-style bronze signage, both interior and exterior, intended to replace an existing steel "men's room" sign. John Howe acknowledged the project had simply stalled for lack of time and said it was not a "must have." Several members pushed back on funding a "nice to have" item after the board had previously agreed to prioritize only must-have capital requests. One member noted the $8,500 estimate was likely outdated and would probably run closer to $14,000. After discussion, including a suggestion from a board member that the item be evaluated alongside other Waveny House aesthetic work — new elevator, updated lighting — the board agreed to pull the signage item from this list and have it resubmitted through the regular fiscal-year budget process, along with a broader assessment or walking tour of the building's remaining needs.
Other Waveny House items: $2,700 in unused electrical-upgrade funds was returned. The brides-and-grooms furniture project was reported complete, with remaining funds returned. On brides-and-grooms air conditioning, staff said the original plan for mini-split units proved infeasible given the building's concrete construction, so the department requested $2,000 of a $10,000 balance to buy two more portable units, returning the remaining $8,000. A proposal to add Waveny-monogrammed silverware and china was dropped for the silverware ($5,000 returned) over concerns guests would take pieces home, while $4,000 was retained for replacement china and $6,000 returned. A stair carpet purchase tied to the elevator project remains encumbered and was left in place. A "furniture and furnishings" line item of $19,744 was returned after staff said Waveny House does not typically stock loose furniture, though the board noted that funding for wallpaper repair work, if it proceeds, should come through this year's budget instead.
"It is not a must have. Why are we doing it?" [00:13:20] — unidentified Board of Finance member, during the signage discussion
Procedural steps and outcome: These changes were folded into a single combined motion covering Waveny House, Parks and Board of Education items (see below).
Implications and what is next: Board members separately floated the idea of a building-committee subcommittee tour of Waveny House, similar to past tours of Board of Education capital projects, to assess needs more comprehensively before the next budget cycle.
Capital Projects Review: Parks and Recreation and Board of Education
Substantive content: On the Parks side, staff reported a budgeted field-mower purchase was no longer needed because one of two new tractors came bundled with a mower attachment; the full $12,000 was returned. Playground-inspection funds of about $7,000 remain encumbered and were left in place. About $8,750 for water fountains was retained to finish an in-progress installation project. A Waveny trail-reconstruction line item of $22,920 was reported fully spent and closed out. A $20,000 line item for Mead Park tennis walkways was returned after staff said the work will instead be rolled into a larger, still-undefined project to fix a drainage problem on tennis courts seven and eight, which will require tearing up the walkways anyway. Furniture-replacement funding at Lapham was retained in full after staff described plans, developed the day of the meeting amid a change in facility directors, to replace meeting-room chairs and tables roughly 30 years old.
On the Board of Education side, staff reported the district wants to retain all of its remaining capital funds because of ongoing timing questions about which projects it will complete this year; no changes were made to those accounts. One member asked about a line item that had disappeared from the list and was told it related to relocating a pre-K program from West School to South School.
Procedural steps and outcome: After board members debated whether to read every line item back for the minutes, they opted for a condensed read-back of each account's in/out status before voting. The combined motion covering Waveny House, Parks and Board of Education changes was moved by Chris LaBrese, seconded by Nick Matrakis, and approved unanimously.
Implications and what is next: Board members asked finance staff for a summary report at the October meeting comparing what capital funds were returned versus retained across both the July and September reviews.
Routine Budget Transfers
Background and stakes: Staff presented roughly four pages of routine, largely fiscal year 2026 transfers described as "nickels and dimes" — invoices requiring additional funds moved into the correct budget line, totaling about $87,000.
Substantive content: A member identified as Ann explained that under a "3601" fund designation, departments can only transfer money within a specific authorization tied to a fiscal year and project number, which is why the reports showed matched debit-and-credit pairs rather than net changes.
Procedural steps and outcome: The board reviewed the transfers without raising substantive objections; no formal roll-call vote language was recorded for this batch separate from the review itself.
Implications and what is next: None specified.
Waveny Park Storm-Damage Trail Reconstruction
Background and stakes: A storm roughly a month before the meeting caused significant trail damage at Waveny Park, with additional damage reported at the Kiwanis and Bristow properties. The Waveny trail-reconstruction budget line for fiscal year 2026 did not have enough remaining money to cover repairs, and a related fiscal year 2025 project had no funds left at all.
The question before the body: whether to approve transferring money from several closed-out accounts into the storm-damage repair project so the town can go out to bid.
Substantive content: Staff said $19,784 would move from the Dunning Stadium Phase 2 and vehicle-with-accessories accounts, and $20,329.84 would move from closed-out water-fountain, picnic-table, track-resurfacing and stand-up-machine accounts, combining with remaining project balances to fund a roughly $70,000 storm-repair project. Because bonded and tax-supported capital funds cannot be moved directly into each other, staff said they used an alternate structure — moving tax-supported capital into a capital account and bonded money into a bonded account separately, then combining the two pools.
A board member asked whether the project would also address the removal of an unmapped single-track trail connecting two main paths near the sleigh-riding hill, which the member said had been mulched over and eliminated. Staff said that removal was unrelated to the storm-repair project and said they were not aware of it but would look into it.
"But no, this project that we're trying to put together is just trying to meld enough money together to perform this... to repair the storm damage." — Tiger, Parks staff
Procedural steps and outcome: Approved unanimously on a motion seconded by Michael Chen.
Implications and what is next: Staff said money moved in this fashion would otherwise have appeared as unspent balances the town identified next year; board members noted this approach avoids drawing on a contingency fund for storm-related damage.
Irwin Park House Contamination Remediation
Background and stakes: As part of an ongoing abatement and demolition project at Irwin Park House, crews removing a second undocumented underground fuel storage tank discovered the tank required soil testing. That testing found low levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, triggering a regulated soil-contamination cleanup. Staff said the contamination traced not to the tank itself but to a decades-old layer of backfill from a prior tank removal or regrading at the property.
The question before the body: whether to approve an additional $75,500 transfer to fund the remediation, on top of $29,500 already transferred earlier in the project.
Substantive content: A staff member identified as Joe told the board the total remediation estimate is $84,000 for excavation, time and material, and disposal, plus roughly $20,000 for clean fill, for a total project need of about $104,000. He said the original house-demolition contract, competitively bid, included allowances for below-grade unknowns because the house had been documented for asbestos in advance, but the tanks themselves were entirely undocumented and untested beforehand. A board member asked whether permits would have been pulled when the tanks were installed; Joe said town fire marshal records showed no such permits, meaning the tanks were abandoned without the town's knowledge and left no paper trail. Because capital transfers require matching revenue and expense entries for each project code, the transfer appeared on the board's sheet as two line items rather than one net figure, prompting a procedural question from a member before staff clarified the mechanics.
"So it's a regulated soil contamination, so we had to remove it to the limits of that." [00:43:46] — Joe, staff overseeing the Irwin Park House project
Procedural steps and outcome: Approved unanimously, seconded by Victor Alvarez.
Implications and what is next: The $75,500 transfer, combined with the earlier $29,500, funds completion of the identified contamination cleanup at Irwin Park House; no further transfers for this specific issue were flagged as pending.
Subcommittee Assignments
The chair distributed a list of board members' subcommittee assignments and asked members to review it individually and report back personally on whether they wanted to remain on their current assignments or move to others, rather than resolving assignments during the meeting. No vote was taken.
Adjournment
With no further business, the board adjourned on a motion by Chris LaBrese, seconded by Bob Hamill, approved unanimously.
Todd Levieri, Board of Finance member (presided over the meeting; role not confirmed against a roster) Michael Chen, Board of Finance member Chris LaBrese, Board of Finance member Victor Alvarez, Board of Finance member Maria Weingarten, Board of Finance member Bob Hamill, Board of Finance member James Young, Board of Finance member Nick Matrakis, Board of Finance member Jan Schaefer, Board of Finance member Alan Bedaines, Board of Finance member Fiona Carlson, Board of Finance member First Selectman Diana, town's chief elected official (surname not given in transcript) Cheryl, town staff member presenting pension-enrollment results Deanna, town staff member referenced alongside Cheryl on the pension update Tucker, town staff member coordinating the capital-projects and transfer review Ann, town finance staff member explaining capital-transfer accounting rules Tiger, town staff member presenting Parks and Recreation capital items John Howe, town staff member presenting Waveny House and town-buildings capital items Ryan Stacy, town staff member cited as assisting with capital-project fund transfers Bill Oseman, town staff member cited regarding Waveny House wallpaper work Joe, town staff member presenting the Irwin Park House contamination remediation item
No members of the public identified themselves by name for public comment in the transcript provided.
Waveny Life Care — the entity proposing a life-plan/continuing-care retirement community at the Waveny Park mulch-pile site; discussed at length by the First Selectman. Town Council — cited as the only board Waveny Life Care has presented to so far, and as lacking unilateral authority to enter an MOU. Board of Selectmen — one of three boards required to review any Waveny mulch-pile project. Planning and Zoning Commission — one of the additional bodies that would need to approve any formal Waveny proposal. Inland Wetlands Commission — one of the additional bodies that would need to approve any formal Waveny proposal. Parks and Recreation Commission — one of the additional bodies that would need to approve any formal Waveny proposal. Board of Education — capital-fund holder discussed during the capital-projects review; reported holding all remaining funds pending internal timing decisions, including a pre-K relocation from West School to South School. 401(a)/457 retirement plan — the pension-alternative program discussed in the staff enrollment update.