Last night’s Board of Selectmen meeting started off to all appearances as a typical one—Wilton’s CFO Sandy Dennies kicked things off, asking officials for approval to complete an online application with the state regarding underground fuel tanks. Typical municipal governance matters, as these things go.
But quickly it became clear that the session would be anything but typical. About 10 minutes in, second selectman Hal Clark vehemently expressed his displeasure at the bureaucratic wastefulness of State of CT paperwork from Hartford. From there the night progressed to a point where a police officer was called to stand in the hallway outside the meeting room after exchanges between the selectmen and a few members of the public got heated.
It wasn’t a widely attended meeting–there were only a handful of public observers in the gallery. But when it came time for public comment, some individuals used their time for public remarks to challenge the selectmen on the topic of the “On School Road” closure, asking officials about whether or not they really intended to try and bring back a program they described as “beyond accommodating,” affordable and unlike anything else in Wilton at all.
The charged exchanges were primarily between first selectman Bill Brennan and two On School Road parents, Sheila and Joel Krawitz. Both parents pushed the officials to answer beyond being simply disappointed that the State shut the school down, urging them to commit to reopening the program once all proposed renovations are made at Comstock Community Center, the building that housed the toddler program.
Voice raised during the back and forth comments, which is when Dennies slipped out to call an officer to observe from the hallway.
“I’m confused,” Joel Krawitz said. “I’m in real estate, and I understand the processes. As far as these improvements don’t seem to go hand-in-hand with the reasons behind the program no longer taking place. Understand there’s licensing, and I understand there’s a dispute with how the licensing has been handled up until this time. How are we going forward saying we can’t do anything …yet we still have various programs on weekends, we still have programs for the seniors, camp looper is still taking place over the summer, we’ve got Mike Garrity’s programs…why is it just this program?”
Brennan dismissed “rumors” that Comstock would be used as temporary space for town employees who’d need to be relocated if proposed renovations to Town Hall happen, saying such renovations are only talk at this point. “What’s been misquoted is that we are forming a space utilization committee to look at all the space within the Town Hall area, including Comstock, and how we’re going to utilize it. We’ll look at all our space requirements and determine what are the priorities.” As for Town Hall, the selectman said, “There are no plans to do anything at the moment, except study the thing.”
He emphasized that there is a long list of town-owned buildings that could be considered as candidates for renovation and improvement, including Comstock, and tried to clarify that a project there, or at any building, has significant cost implications that the town would need to seriously weigh.
“There’s another issue, and that is money. We don’t have the capital appropriated yet to make these improvements at Comstock,” he said.
For the foreseeable future, it seemed the first selectman was eliminating the possibility of reopening On School Road because of the high costs involved in making Comstock suitable for the requirements the State Department of Health would need to see in order to license the program.
“We’re trying to do the best we can with this facility—we’re trying to improve it. But we cannot be spending all the money it would take to get the building back so it could run the same program. there would [need to] be major capital improvements to run a licensed program. We are disappointed, but understand: we are trying to fix the problem. We’re putting together a plan, looking systematically to come up with what do we have to do to make this building safe. We don’t have the capital for some of these programs. Comstock is a very important project. Understand, we’re doing our best with the funds that we have, that would have to be appropriated, that the town has to vote on. It has to go through the process,” Brennan reiterated.
A lengthy process is something that working parents like Sheila Krawitz feels she doesn’t have time for , or can afford.
“I don’t have afternoon childcare that is affordable. Sharon’s provided that. You could go in the morning, you could go in the afternoon, it was extended day, it was a whole day program, it was a morning program. You got to choose: you could go one day, four days, the whole week. It was a program that served this community in multiple purposes. Not just like a preschool program. She was accommodating. We don’t have that. This town doesn’t provide that. You show me a school that provides that and I’ll shut up. But that doesn’t exist, not in the town of Wilton.”
Sheila Krawitz pushed further to boil the issue down to her main point: “Will there be another program like this installed back? It’s essential to this town.”
Brennan replied with a non-reply: “I don’t think I can answer that question, none of us can right now, until we go through this process.”
Sheila Krawitz pushed Brennan to clarify whether there are safety concerns officials have about Comstock. “Are you deeming the building unsafe at this time?”
“Some sections of the building for preschool children would be unsafe to be used at this point. We have to make certain adjustments in the correct way,” he responded, adding that they are not considering reopening the program in the near future.
He clarified: “We have lead paint in that building, it’s normal in an older building, it has to be abated. You can’t set this program up without doing a full abatement.”
In a follow-up exchange with Joel Krawitz, Brennan affirmed that the town only sees an issue with regard to the lead paint for the On School Road program. Other programs—even those with children, seniors—could still be operated. The differential is the question of licensing. “That’s the issue.”
Brennan said, and asked for the parents’ patience and understanding. He reiterated several times that he could not promise anything long-term about reinstating the school program, beyond the town’s ability to try and make the building suitable to hold some sort of programming for kids. “We want to get the building back so it can serve the community.”
One other parent, Clare Rainone, was at the meeting, who said she was elected to represent the many other parents who couldn’t attend the evening meeting and didn’t want to “inundate the selectmen with a huge group of people.”
Rainone said, “We are prepared to work with the town to hopefully you can help us help you to help Sharon. The school filled a niche that no other preschool in Wilton filled. No other option offered what her school offered—affordability for working parents, flexibility and a safe, caring environment for our kids. She was less expensive than any other town, and she also offered flexibility—no other school can you send a 2-year-old and 4-year-old on the same day. Sharon allowed you to have all your kids in school on the same days. There’s such a big gap without Sharon’s school. There’s huge, huge support to try to do whatever we can to reinstate this. It’s an important matter for a huge percentage of parents in Wilton. As taxpayers, we hope you can re-provide the service for us.”
Resident Challenges Hoffstatter
One other moment differed from the norm, for many reasons including that it was a somewhat awkward exchange between a self-described senior in the community, Milton Pohl, and third selectman Ted Hoffstatter, regarding the selectman’s recent ticketing for pot possession. Pohl made the following remark during the public comments:
“I have an unpleasant comment, but I feel someone should make it. I have tremendous respect for the people who are serving this town and for the services I get. However, I have to make this comment. As a resident of the town, it doesn’t make me feel good to have a member of the BoS indicted or pointed out using drugs. In my opinion, I would feel much better if he would resign from the board. I don’t know if his recognition, whether he could be requested because he was elected, but I think someone has to make that comment. I think that in the town the size we are with the educated people we have, that all the people in the government should be the best available, and there are plenty of others available.
As Pohl sat down, Hoffstatter said, “God Bless You, my friend.”
Other items covered at the BoS meeting
- Wilton Train Station safety…CT’s Department of Transportation will be installing nine (9) light posts at train station. This follows complaints the town made pushing the state for better lighting. receiving citizen complaints one woman said it was very dark and very scary. Planned in-house at DOT/the state…”we’re excited because it will add some additional lighting.
- CL&P is progressing with tree-cutting, per their mandate. Brennan asked residents to be patient with tree crews and understand that the project is not a municipal one nor is it being run by the town. He added that it would help reduce the amount of power losses.