The Board of Selectmen took the first step toward formation of a new Capital Non-Recurring Fund on Tuesday night, Mar. 18, unanimously approving the creation of a six-person committee to work out the details.

The vote was made a short time after Superintendent Kevin Smith threw up a warning that one of the school projects, for which the town was already planning to bond, may not in fact be eligible for bonding.

The Town and School Needs Assessment Priorities Committee (TSNAP) recently recommended as its number four priority the $1 million proposal for floor tiles, lighting, and ceiling tile replacement at Middlebrook School. 

“The concern is around whether or not the way that item is described, if it’s eligible for bonding,” Smith said.

In order of TSNAP’s prioritizing, that item followed road restoration ($700,000), school roof replacements ($2 million) and water system repair work at Cider Mill School ($1.55 million).

According to bond counsel, Smith said, about 40% or more of a given facility needs to be addressed with a project in order to qualify for bonding.

The question was also raised of whether other items on the TSNAP list may also not qualify, including $375,000 designated for restroom renovations at both Merwin Meadows and Wilton High School.

“It seems to me the town’s bond counsel needs to weigh in about those specific proposals,” Smith said.

First Selectman Toni Boucher said they would seek out that information and discuss the matter further at the Monday, Apr. 1 BOS meeting.

Capital Non-Recurring Fund Idea Advances

Meanwhile, Boucher said the new plan for the Capital Non-Recurring Fund committee came about following a joint meeting with Board of Education Chair Ruth DeLuca and Board of Finance Chair Matt Raimondi. Based on their discussions, Boucher said, each of the three boards will be represented by two of its members.

The BOS unanimously approved inclusion of Boucher and Selectman Ross Tartell for the committee.

The idea for the fund was originally suggested by former First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice after an in-depth school facilities study was released toward the end of 2023, citing a litany of repairs that were then estimated to total over $100 million.

Vanderslice, who was about to leave office, suggested the creation of a new fund for school and municipal buildings as an additional tool beyond bonding. She said the fund, which would fall under the BOS’s authority, but with the blessings of the BOE and with close involvement from the finance board, would be a place to gather extra revenue, budget reserves and potentially an annual contribution budgeted in by the BOF.

While she recommended formation of the committee in November 2023, the matter was not looked at again by Boucher until recently. While early in the budget process Boucher made comments indicating that such a fund could create issues based on authority, more recently she has been a vocal advocate of seeing it created.

At Tuesday night’s meeting, Boucher presented a draft document to the BOS she said was prepared by Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker based on his experiences as the first selectman of Bethel, where he served from 2009-2022, leaving mid-term to join Wilton.

“The purpose of the capital non-recurring fund is to provide a mechanism to cover the cost of equipment and physical improvement projects that fall below the eligibility threshold for bonding,” the document states, “as well as to cover purchases of equipment and vehicles as part of the Town’s ten-year capital plan, accounting for planned end-of-life replacements.”

According to the draft, the new fund will replace the current Infrastructure Fund and Department Capital accounts.

“It’s just a draft for consideration by this group, a tri-board group of six to review this, then come back to all of you to review again for possible passage, hopefully to get it started, but there are other things that have to be discussed in it,” Boucher said.

Department of Public Works Director Frank Smeriglio shared a list of what he described as the type of projects that would be paid for by this fund.

The list contains around 20 school items totaling close to $600,000, some of which have already been budgeted in Fiscal Year 2025 and have been completed. Among these are $24,000 for roof repair at the BOE Central Office, and $11,000 for roof repair at the WHS auditorium, as well as $75,000 budgeted in each year for “unforeseen items.”

The list also has around $275,000 in town-related expenses, including $14,500 budgeted next year for the Highway Department’s breakroom and office, $95,000 for garage doors, and $15,000 for concrete repairs at the animal shelter.

“If you look at the value of the projects, the values are really small,” Smieriglio said. “These definitely do not qualify for bonding.”

“These two spreadsheets would be used as your first agenda item,” he said.

Selectman Bas Nabulsi said the committee would have to consider if this fund would include both maintenance items and capital-type improvements.

“I mean, would we view this fund as being not only capital projects, but just run-of-the-mill maintenance things that come up, or not?” he said.

Selectwoman Kim Healy said the missing piece for her would be to discuss with both the BOE and BOF exactly where responsibility lies with costs related to school facilities.

“I think we’ve definitely been shouldering a little more than we have in the past,” she said.

Boucher said the issue has been broached by Smeriglio and DPW Assistant Director Jeff Pardo, who have had issues.

“That’s come up a lot,” Boucher said. “They’ve talked about it a great deal and Frank and Jeff have been frustrated that there isn’t a memorandum of understanding that more clearly delineates, it makes life easier.

“The problem is getting that list of who does what and who’s responsible,” she said. “They’ve assumed quite a bit on the town side.”

At the beginning of the meeting, resident Barbara Geddis weighed in on the committee’s formation, cautioning that department stakeholders and town employees should not be allowed to drive the agenda.

“I’m not at all in favor of creating more ad hoc committees with unclear mandates,” she said, citing the “unclear jurisdiction” and “confusing mandate” of TSNAP.

“Who is figuring out who should be on this committee?” she said. “Once again, it cannot be stakeholder department heads. I know they were non-voting before, but the room was more than half full at each meeting and it’s very hard to be objective when they’re in your presence.”

“I urge you not to fill the committee with the usual suspects,” Geddis said. “Please include some public.”