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Grand Theater talks on hold

Scott Koran, CEO of Rogers Cinema has asked the New London Common council to table discussions regarding the donation of the Grand Theater to the city.

According to an email sent to alderpersons last week, Koran said their accounting firm will need to further research the matter before proceeding with any discussion.

“It is their intent to fully research the issue and report back to me by the end of the year,” stated Koran. “Until then, I would like to pause our discussion but would still like you to know we are committed to keeping the theater running in New London.”

Koran said he had communicated with Margie Brown of the Wolf River Theatrical Troup and that he will report back to the council as soon as he has the information from his accountant.

Police Department to charge for lockouts in 2011

New London Police Chief Jeff Schlueter informed council members via memo that starting in January; the department will be charging $10 for vehicle lockouts. Currently the department does not charge for the service and handles approximately 500 lockouts a year. Private sector fees for vehicle lockouts can range from $15-50 dollars.

Thursday, the department is beginning its first round of interviews in the hiring process to fill a vacancy on the department. The chief also reports that he will be meeting with a representative involved with a group interested in doing a run here in New London that would be in conjunction with the St. Patrick’s celebration.

New bridge has quiet opening

The new Pearl Street Bridge had a quiet opening Friday afternoon, Dec. 17, after a handful of city officials met on the north end of the new bridge for a ribbon cutting. The bridge project began in June of this year and was delayed a month due to high water in the Wolf River. The $1.4 million dollar project was bid to Pheifer Brothers Construction. It took five to six thousand man hours to complete and contains 250,000 pounds of steel, 1,500 yards of concrete and 7,000 feet of piling. A crew will return in the spring to finish some cosmetic work and stain the concrete walls of the bridge.

One council member, who wished to be unnamed, returned to the bridge over the weekend with a magnet and picked up over a pound of nails that had been left on the bridge during the construction process. On Friday, snow and ice prohibited the street division from running the street sweeper over the bridge, however the alderman felt it would have been nice if workers would have run a magnet over the bridge in a thorough inspection before opening. Once salt went to work on the snow and ice on the bridge’s deck, more nails became visible, which is why he returned. “I’m just surprised they didn’t run a magnet over it before opening it,” he said, holding a coffee can size container filled with various size nails. “There were a lot of nails.”

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