New Police HQ Architect “Shocked” by Public Criticism from Wilton DPW Official; Despite Project Delays, Boucher Stays Positive

Faced with delays and some questions of how effectively the vendors are performing on the new Police Headquarters project, First Selectman Toni Boucher painted a positive picture of progress.

At its Tuesday, April 22 meeting, the Board of Selectmen heard some strong criticism from Jeff Pardo, assistant director of the Department of Public Works, who has been overseeing the $19-million project, which he said is now going to be delayed by up to six months.

In particular, Pardo chastised A. Secondino & Son, Inc., the Branford-based contractor, which he largely blamed for unnecessary delays, citing the project supervisor’s refusal to hold communication meetings, thus fostering production inefficiencies.

“I’ve asked him for them,” Pardo told the BOS. “His trades have asked him. He doesn’t want to hold them. The trades all complain to me. It’s poor communication.”

Pardo also criticized the work of Hartford-based Tecton Architects, which he said has been consistently slow to respond to questions relating to incomplete architectural drawings, which he said has caused additional delay.

“The drawings are very vague,” Pardo told the BOS. “They were incomplete. That set should never have gone out to bid, so it’s a battle every day.”

Representatives from A. Secondino & Son did not respond to multiple inquiries from GOOD Morning Wilton about the situation, but Tecton did.

“We are shocked and disheartened by the DPW official’s comments in the April 22nd meeting regarding the quality of our documents and the frequency of our site visits,” Jeff McElravy, principal and director of public safety design, said on behalf of Tecton.

“We are disappointed that this is the first we are hearing of their dissatisfaction, especially considering we have collaborated so closely on the project over the past few years,” he said.

“Nonetheless, we would like to assure the (BOS) and the community of Wilton that we will address any open concern relative to our work and continue to collaborate with the entire team to ensure the project is completed successfully,” McElravy said.

While Boucher said she has not communicated with Tecton since the April 22 BOS meeting, she had a private meeting with representatives of A. Secondino & Son.

“We had a very productive meeting,” Boucher said on Friday, May 9. “It was very cordial and we worked things out.”

Boucher said she did not want to share any details, as they involved contract issues, but would be discussing the meeting with the BOS privately.

“I’d like to communicate with the Board of Selectmen, first in a memo, to say that I just very recently had a meeting with Secondino and it was a very productive meeting where we worked out all the issues regarding process and scheduling, and we’re all looking forward to a very successful completion of this project,” Boucher said.

Selectwoman Kim Healy stated at the Monday, May 5 BOS meeting that she was surprised the matter wasn’t put on that agenda.

She called the situation “somewhat alarming … I would really like to get more frequent updates,” Healy said.

Boucher harkened back to when she began as first selectman around 18 months ago.

“When I arrived it was obvious that there had not been much oversight,” she said, “because the entire project was behind in a big way. Building permits were not answered or followed up with, and that caused some of the problems.”

“That’s when we had to look at its oversight internally and make some changes,” she said, noting that they’ve been trying to fix things over the past year.

“We have been trying to give you more regular updates, but we also have to do the job as well,” Boucher said, stating it was her administration and personnel that had the primary responsibility of moving the project forward.

Selectmen Ross Tartell, referencing an article in GOOD Morning Wilton that outlined the proceedings of the April 22 BOS meeting, asked how the board could best help the DPW department in getting the project completed.

“How do we work with them to support their efforts to drive it home and make it happen faster?” Tartell said.

Boucher said that would be discussed at the next BOS meeting on Tuesday, May 20.

“I think we have to bridge that gap, which now seems to be quite damaged …” Healy said. “It seems like it’s gonna be difficult for everyone to work together.”

Healy asked that Boucher provide the BOS with copies of all the invoices that she signs relating to the project going forward — something Boucher did not seem motivated to do.

“I also don’t want to delay the process even further,” Boucher told her.

“It should be quite easy,” Healy said, also suggesting that the BOS should be touring the building site to understand what’s going on.

“Well, we can’t walk through a building site that’s dangerous,” Boucher said, “but we can get to a point now where we can do some of that, but while in mid-construction, you know, it was not a safe place for bringing other people.”

Healy noted that some people are still under the impression that Chris Burney, who formerly held the title of director of public works, facilities and energy management, was still employed with the town.

At the beginning of 2022, Burney, who started with the town in 2015, handed the reins of the DPW to Frank Smeriglio, but stayed on in a part-time capacity as director of facilities and energy management.

Former First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice said in early 2022 that Burney would oversee the police HQ project at least until such time that a new town administrator — a new position for which Matt Knickerbocker was hired — would take on the role of facilities management.

“People assume Chris Burney is still an employee of the town,” Healy said.

Boucher responded, “Did you not all find it curious, before I got there, that things were being delayed and that there was no shovel in the ground for months? I would think that that’s something that you may have been discussing previously.”

“We had to make the necessary changes internally,” Boucher said on Friday regarding how she went about getting the project back on track, not adding any specifics.

At the May 5 meeting, Tartell asked again how the BOS can best support Pardo and Smeriglio, as well as the workers, especially since coordination meetings are not happening on the site.

“I think they are happening now,” Boucher said, “because of the public discussion of that, and I think that (Pardo) has gotten their attention, so to speak, so things are going better.”

“Lesson learned,” Tartell said.

CORRECTION: The original story indicated that Matt Knickerbocker was hired to be Wilton town administrator by former First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice. When the town conducted a search for a town administrator, the members of the Board of Selectmen served as a personnel committee (which are not conducted in public). According to Vanderslice, the entire board interviewed candidates and unanimously decided to hire Knickerbocker, and ratified that with a vote in public at the Aug. 16, 2022, BOS meeting.