January 17, 2013

New Canaan Rotary Club Bulletin                                          January 17, 2013

President Marty got us off to a good start and then recognized our good Chaplain Eric who invoked a moment of personal privilege to thank all those who have supported and prayed for him in his time of loss.  He then blessed our fellowship and our food.

Marty rose and extolled the virtues of spending yesterday’s snow day with his young son Benjamin before confessing to having retired for the evening at 6:30.  Energetic little devil [not Marty]!  He then recognized newly elected Town Councilman John Engel who, in a weak moment, flashed the famous Nixon double V for victory sign and was heard to exclaim, “I am not a crook!”  Following a three person [after one abdication] candidate panel answering questions from the sitting Councilpersons John received eight of the eleven votes and will serve the balance of Tom O’Dea’s term.  Marty then recognized Phil McClain who announced that, following an impressive six year tenure as the dictionary impresario, he is seeking a successor.  This would be an ideal place for one of our newer members to take ownership of a worthy Club initiative.  Speaking of which, Gentle Ben then invited all new members to join him in a post-meeting colloquium regarding a spring project for which they will provide the leadership.  The outcome has the membership on the edge of its collective seat.

Sergeant Bill IS BACK!  Following several weeks of mediocre material he delivered a well received partisan political joke and then moved among us collecting fines.  Several people coughed up happy dollars in honor of John’s election; Phil for son Christopher’s eighth birthday; Amy for successful mending of her torn meniscus; Eric a sad $10 for the passing of his dad; Sandie boasting about her talented family; Fred for having survived his budget presentation; Rob because Ad’s bench which has been gracing his front porch for several months will be purloined by Town employees today for permanent installation on South Avenue in front of Saint A’s; and finally, Sergeant Bill for a week in Punta Cana.

As Carolyn was passing among us confirming all entries on her badge issue initiative at 12:57 who should come through the door but Kevin McLaughlin professing confusion about the scheduled start time of the weekly meeting.  Even more disruptive was the subsequent arrival of the tweed-vested Chris Snyder followed by his personal waiter bearing an exotic looking entrée.

Jim Cole then rose to introduce today’s speaker, Assistant Director of Public Works [and outraged-citizen-whisperer] Tiger Mann, fresh from his budget presentation to the combined Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance and Town Council.   Fortunately he came armed with a power point presentation geared to a fourth grade class which most in the room were able to understand.  He explained that the Department is divided into seven divisions with responsibility for most of the Town’s assets.  He explained the difficult period this fall when leaf pickup was at its peak and Sandy hit, followed by a snow storm.  It took the Department until the beginning of the new year to dig out of the backlog.  The debris from Sandy alone totaled almost 7,000 tons [or 214,000,000 pounds] which was more than the total of the two previous large storms combined.  While he was dazzling us with big numbers he spoke about dredging Mill Pond which produced 2,000 truckloads [41,000 cubic yards] of silt which is currently de-watering in the Corn Field, after which it will be sold and/or reused in future projects.  He explained the rebuilding of a portion of the Waveny trails which go through a wetland and how his people were able to design and install a system that is environmentally appropriate as well as effective and long-lasting.  He then spent considerable time educating us on the vagaries of paving and explaining that the worst/first process, which seemed to be the most efficient, turned out not to be and has been replaced by a three part process of crack seal, thin overlay, and mill and pave which has resulted in an impressive upgrade of the 125 miles of Town roads.  The $2-2.5,000,000 per year paving budget will keep the roads in good shape.  He explained the potential problems which would/could result in the event of one or more back-up generator failures in Town buildings, and touched on the possibility of bringing natural gas to NC, sourcing the pipeline which runs through Waveny.  Keith Simpson,  who has undoubtedly spent more time working with Tiger than any other Rotarian and is thus best able to assess his performance, thanked Tiger for not only his collegial approach to his job and his professionalism, but also for his ability to listen to and mollify citizens who rail against him, his motives, his competence and his ancestors.  He is a treasured Town asset and a fine presenter.  Thanks to Jim for yet another edifying program.

Robert Moses