In what First Selectman Toni Boucher described as a “momentous meeting,” the newest iteration of the Board of Selectmen moved a lot of business forward on Monday night, Dec. 1, including acceptance of an official draft of the Ambler Farm lease, a contract for the Guy Whitten Field lighting project, a new police union contract and authorization of an employment offer for what may be the town’s new chief financial officer.
Editor’s Note: We will have a separate article on the BOS discussion and actions taken to appoint a new CFO.
With the departure of Republican Selectpersons Josh Cole and Kim Healy, the newest Democratic members of the BOS — Rich McCarty and David Tatkow, who was seated for his first meeting — began Monday’s meeting by advocating for information.
McCarty asked that three new agenda items be added, including discussion of the vacant Republican seat, progress by the interim CFO Joseph Centofanti, along with emerging details about the Finance Department, and a status report on the work of the Wilton Capital Planning Committee (WCPC).
Tatkow noted that promises had been made by Boucher to have additional information brought forward at this meeting by Centofanti, but once again Boucher was able to smooth over the concerns and buy more time in this regard.
Boucher said that Centofanti, who had not attended the last BOS meeting — though he had been expected — was now in the process of preparing some details for the Board of Finance meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 9 regarding the town’s financial state of affairs. She said Centofanti would follow up with the BOS “at the same time,” but was not clear on exactly what that meant, except to indicate he would give the BOS members a copy of the same report he would be giving to the BOF.
BOS members again appeared mollified, at least for the moment. Should the new CFO candidate accept the position this Friday, however, Centofanti’s brief tenure trying to repair the town’s shaken financial foundation may end up being largely moot, with questions including his actual hourly rate and the amount of outside help he has brought in left unanswered.
Ambler Lease
The BOS unanimously approved a revised Municipal Lease Agreement between the town and Friends of Ambler Farm, Inc., the nonprofit organization that for several years has run the day-to-day operations of the town-owned facility.
“This has been under discussion and negotiations since 2017,” Boucher said, citing the many meetings, both public and private, that have been held on the lease.
Originally, the lease agreement was brought to the BOS for approval in April 2025 before hitting concerns from some BOS members and the Board of Finance about the structure of the lease. The lawyers went back to discussing changes over several months.
One of the prime concerns raised was that the lease initially had no appropriations clause, something they said should be standard in any municipal lease agreement. Boucher pointed out that such a clause had been inserted into the latest iteration. [An appropriations clause specifies that the Town’s obligations under the lease are contingent on annual budget appropriations, and that if funds are not appropriated in a future fiscal year, the Town may terminate the lease without penalty.]
This version of the lease also included several points regarded as dealbreakers by the FOAF, according to Boucher, including sale of the Yellow House. While it’s the town’s right to do so — and has been part of the discussion of the WCPC — it was added to the lease agreement as something that, should it happen, will present an opportunity for FOAF to break the lease.
Ross Tartell, who was officially made second selectman at this meeting, following Cole’s departure, defended FOAF’s insistence on adding this point.
“I care about the Yellow House. It’s iconic to the town and it’s just important to Ambler Farm,” he said, calling it “a remarkably important component to its success.”
Tartell said that the town can take care of the Yellow House “at virtually no cost to the citizens because you collect rental income and it pays for the fixing of the house.”
The Yellow House, however, is currently a main object of consideration by the WCPC because it’s been estimated that more than $1 million is needed for repairs — including lead remediation — in order to make it habitable. The question remains whether or not, or at what point, the WCPC might recommend the bonding of that money to the BOS.
The Town itself is currently embroiled in a legal fight regarding the lease. In May, resident Michael Powers filed an injunction against Wilton and the BOS to stop them from approving a long-term lease for Ambler Farm without holding the required Town Meeting for voter approval. He claims it represents a breech of the Town Charter.
Officials expect that the case won’t proceed.
“Note that the town filed a motion to dismiss the case,” Boucher said, “and we’re waiting for a decision from the judge, which we hope will be very soon.”
The motion that was made by the selectmen was to approve the latest version of the lease and to allow the first selectman to sign it once the judge dismisses Powers’ lawsuit.
What wasn’t discussed during the meeting or mentioned in the motion was the requirement to bring the lease to a Town Meeting for approval by the voters.
During the public comment portion at the end of Monday’s meeting, it was GOOD Morning Wilton that raised the question about the Town Meeting and whether the selectmen intend to put the lease before voters.
Boucher confirmed that the lease will go before residents at a future Town Meeting.
Guy Whitten Field
The BOS unanimously approved Boucher signing the purchase agreement for $380,000 for the light package for Guy Whitten Field.
Frustrations have surfaced around town, particularly in the athletic community, as this project has been delayed by many months in an effort to get town approval to erect the lights in the first place, despite funding having already been allocated.
Parks and Recreation Department Director Steve Pierce ended up eating the majority of blame for the delay, though he explained it was the Planning and Zoning Department that sent him in the wrong direction with regard to getting the proper approvals.
Pierce also fell on his sword for Boucher, who wrongly signed an unapproved contract with Waterfield Design Group, Inc. for design work back on May 23, 2024. This, in turn, led to Boucher’s authorization of $43,318 in design costs that were never approved by the BOS.
“I’ve been here a long time … I should have caught that it should have come to you beforehand,” Pierce told the BOS on Monday night, having sent the contract directly to Boucher, he said, after seeing it was reviewed by town counsel.
“I saw that and I sent it to Toni for signature,” he said.
Boucher said that, going forward, there is a new procedure in place, wherein every time someone comes to her for a signature that first requires BOS approval, the department head is required to physically attach a copy of the BOS meeting minutes where that approval was given.
“After some amount of lacking the proper process, I made sure that anything that comes before me to sign has to be accompanied by the minutes … That’s an internal policy and it would have saved a great deal of angst previously,” Boucher said.
The BOS went on to unanimously retroactively approve the Waterfield contract.
BOS Seat Appointment
Following McCarty’s request that the BOS discuss the appointment process to fill the vacant board seat, the new BOS members made it clear that they wanted the process as transparent as possible.
In particular, they advocated for having the interview process take place in public session, though Boucher indicated that some of it should be handled behind closed doors.
While she spoke favorably about former chair of the Board of Finance Matt Raimondi the Republican Town Committee’s recommendation for the appointment, she also said word needed to be disseminated to the public more aggressively in order to give other people interested in being considered a chance to throw their hats in the ring.
The BOS is offering people the chance to submit their names to them before its Dec. 16 meeting.
“Between now and Dec. 16, I can editorialize and say it would be hard pressed to find such an excellent candidate,” Boucher said regarding Raimondi, “but nevertheless we do have that time frame.”
“To reiterate, for the record, anyone that is unaffiliated that wants to fill this spot can register immediately as a Republican,” she said, or a current registered Republican is eligible to seek the appointment.